>SL<§ikv>^Vi$i-kvSNS&C^ 


®ljp  ^,  ^,  pU  pkarg 


QH5^5 
"05 


nTanrniTiTiF 


Date  Due 


mki^.d 


THE 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD, 


ACCORDING  TO 


REVELATION  AND  SCIENCE. 


Bv  J.  W7  DAWSON,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S., 

PRINaPAL    AND    VICE-CHANCELLOR    OF    m'gILL    UNIVERSITY,  MONTREAL  ;    AUTHOR    OF 

"acadian  geology,"  "  the  story  of  the  earth  and  man," 
"life's  dawn  on  earth,"  etc. 


Speak  to  the  Earth,  and  it  shall  teach  thee." 

-Job. 


N  E  W  Y  O  R  K  : 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 
1877. 


TO  HIS  EXCELLENCY 

THE  RIGHT  HON.  THE  EARL  OF  DUFFERIN, 

K.P.,  K.C.B.,  Etc., 

GOVERNOR -GENERAL  OF  CANADA, 

(Ll)iG  tXJork  is  tlcs^jcctfnllr)  DcbiraU^, 

AS   A   SLIGHT   TRIBUTE    OF   ESTEEM   TO   ONE   WHO   GRACES   THE 

HIGHEST   POSITION    IN    THE  DOMINION    OF  CANADA  BY  HIS 

EMINENT    PERSONAL    QUALITIES,  HIS    REPUTATION   AS 

A   STATESMAN   AND   AN   AUTHOR,  AND    HIS    KIND 

AND    ENLIGHTENED   PATRONAGE   OF    EDU- 
CATION, LITERATURE,  AND   SCIENCE. 


PREFACE. 


The  scope  of  this  work  is  in  the  main  identical  with 
that  of  "  Archaia,"  published  in  i860;  but  in  attempt- 
ing to  prepare  a  new  edition  brought  up  to  the  present 
condition  of  the  subject,  it  was  found  that  so  much  re- 
quired to  be  rewritten  as  to  make  it  essentially  a  new 
book,  and  it  was  therefore  decided  to  give  it  a  new 
name,  more  clearly  indicating  its  character  and  pur- 
pose. 

The  intention  of  this  new  publication  is  to  throw  as 
much  light  as  possible  on  the  present  condition  of  the 
much-agitated  questions  respecting  the  origin  of  the 
world  and  its  inhabitants.  To  students  of  the  Bible 
it  will  afford  the  means  of  determining  the  precise 
import  of  the  biblical  references  to  creation,  and  of 
their  relation  to  what  is  known  from  other  sources. 
To  geologists  and  biologists  it  is  intended  to  give 
some  intelligible  explanation  of  the  connection  of  the 
doctrines  of  revealed  religion  with  the  results  of  their 
respective  sciences. 

A  still  higher  end  to  which  the  author  would  gladly 
contribute  is  that  of  aiding  thoughtful  men  perplexed 
with  the  apparent  antagonisms  of  science  and  religion, 

and  of  indicating  how  they  may  best  harmonize  our 
great  and  growing  knowledge  of  nature  with  our  old 
and  cherished  beliefs  as  to  the  origin  and  destiny  of 
man. 

In  aiming  at  these  results,  it  has  not  been  thought 

A 


ii  Preface. 

necessary  to  assume  a  controversial  attitude  or  to  stand 
on  the  defensive,  either  with  regard  to  rehgion  or  sci- 
ence, but  rather  to  attempt  to  arrive  at  broad  and 
comprehensive  views  which  may  exhibit  those  higher 
harmonies  of  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  which  they 
derive  from  their  common  Author,  and  which  reach 
beyond  the  petty  difficulties  arising  from  narrow  or 
imperfect  views  of  either  or  both.  Such  an  aim  is  too 
high  to  be  fully  attained,  but  in  so  far  as  it  can  be 
reached  we  may  hope  to  rescue  science  from  a  dry  and 
barren  infidelity,  and  religion  from  mere  fruitless  sen- 
timent or  enfeebling  superstition. 

Since  the  publication  of  "Archaia,"  the  subject  of 
which  it  treats  has  passed  through  several  phases,  but 
the  author  has  seen  no  reason  to  abandon  in  the  least 
degree  the  principles  of  interpretation  on  which  he  then 
insisted,  and  he  takes  a  hopeful  view  as  to  their  ultimate 
prevalence.  It  is  true  that  the  wide  acceptance  of  hy- 
potheses of  ''  evolution  "  has  led  to  a  more  decided 
antagonism  than  heretofore  between  some  of  the  utter- 
ances of  scientific  men  and  the  religious  Ideas  of  man- 
kind, and  to  a  contemptuous  disregard  of  revealed  re- 
ligion in  the  more  shallow  literature  of  the  time  ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  barrier  of  scientific  fact  and  induction 
has  been  slowly  rising  to  stem  this  current  of  crude  and 
rash  hypothesis.  Of  this  nature  are  the  great  discov- 
eries as  to  the  physical  constitution  and  probable  origin 
of  the  universe,  the  doctrine  of  the  correlation  and 
conservation  of  forces,  the  new  estimates  of  the  age  of 
the  earth,  the  overthrow  of  the  doctrine  of  spontaneous 
generation,  the  high  bodily  and  mental  type  of  the  ear- 
liest known  men,  the  light  which  philology  has  thrown 
on  the  unity  of  language,  our  growing  knowledge  of 


Preface.  iii 

the  uniformity  of  the  constructive  and  other  habits  of 
primitive  men,  and  of  the  condition  of  man  in  the  ear- 
Her  historic  time,  the  greater  completeness  of  our  con- 
ceptions as  to  the  phenomena  of  Hfe  and  their  relation 
to  organizable  matters  —  all  these  and  many  other 
aspects  of  the  later  progress  of  science  must  tend  to 
bring  it  back  into  greater  harmony  with  revealed  re- 
ligion. 

On  the  other  side,  there  has  been  a  growing  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  theologians  to  inquire  as  to  the 
actual  views  of  nature  presented  in  the  Bible,  and  to 
separate  these  from  those  accretions  of  obsolete  phi- 
losophy which  have  been  too  often  confounded  with 
them.  With  respect  to  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
more  especially,  there  has  been  a  decided  growth  in 
the  acceptance  of  those  principles  for  which  I  contend- 
ed in  i860.  In  illustration  of  this  I  may  refer  to  the 
fact  that  in  1862  it  was  precisely  on  these  principles 
that  Dr.  ]\IcCaul  conducted  his  able  defence  of  the  Mo- 
saic record  of  creation  in  the  "  Aids  to  Faith,"  which 
may  almost  be  regarded  as  an  authoritative  expression 
of  the  views  of  orthodox  Christians  in  opposition  to 
those  of  the  once  notorious  '-'  Essays  and  Reviews." 
Equally  significant  is  the  adoption  of  this  method  of 
interpretation  by  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis  in  his  masterly 
''  Special  Introduction  "  to  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
in  the  American  edition  of  Lange's  Commentary,  ed- 
ited by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff ;  and  the  manifest  approval 
with  which  the  lucid  statement  of  the  relations  of  Geol- 
ogy and  the  Bible  by  Dr.  Arnold  Guyot,  was  received 
by  the  great  gathering  of  divines  at  the  Convention  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  New  York,  in  1873,  bears 
testimony  to  the  same  fact.     The  author  has  also  had 


iv  Preface, 

the  honor  of  being  invited  to  illustrate  this  mode 
of  reconciliation  to  the  students  of  two  of  the  most 
important  theological  colleges  in  America,  in  lectures 
afterwards  published  and  widely  circulated. 

The  time  is  perhaps  nearer  than  we  anticipate  when 
Natural  Science  and  Theology  will  unite  in  the  con- 
viction that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  ''  stands  alone 
among  the  traditions  of  mankind  in  the  wonderful 
simplicity  and  grandeur  of  its  words,"  and  that  ''  the 
meaning  of  these  words  is  always  a  meaning  ahead  of 
science — not  because  it  anticipates  the  results  of  sci- 
ence, but  because  it  is  independent  of  them,  and  runs 
as  it  were  round  the  outer  margin  of  all  possible  dis- 
covery.  ^ 

In  the  Appendix  the  reader  will  find  several  short 
essays  on  special  points  collateral  to  the  general  sub- 
ject, and  important  in  the  solution  of  some  of  its  diffi- 
culties, but  which  could  not  be  conveniently  included 
in  the  text.  More  especially  I  would  refer  to  the  sum- 
maries given  in  the  Appendix  of  the  present  state  of 
our  knowledge  as  to  the  origin  of  life,  of  species,  and 
of  man — topics  not  discussed  in  much  detail  in  the  body 
of  the  work,  both  because  of  the  wide  fields  of  contro- 
versy to  which  they  lead,  and  because  I  have  treated 
of  them  somewhat  fully  in  a  previous  work, ''  The  Story 
of  the  Earth  and  Man,"  in  which  the  detailed  history 
of  life  as  disclosed  by  science  was  the  main  subject  in 
hand. 

J.  W.  D. 

May,  1877. 

*  Argyll's  "  Primeval  Man." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    MYSTERY   OF    ORIGINS   AND    ITS    SOLUTIONS. 

Reality  of  the  Unseen. — Personality  of  God. — Possibility  of  a  Revelation 
of  Origins. — Turanian,  Aryan,  and  Semitic  Solutions  of  the  Mystery. 
— The  Abrahamic  Genesis. — The  Mosaic  Genesis Page  9 

CHAPTER  II. 

.    OBJECTS   AND    NATURE    OF   A    REVELATION    OF    ORIGINS. 

Objects  to  be  Attained  by  a  Revelation  of  Origins. — Its  Method  and 
Structure. — Vision  of  Creation. — Translation  of  the  First  Chapter  of 
Genesis 35 

CHAPTER  III. 

OBJECTS    AND    NATURE     OF     A     REVELATION     OF     ORIGINS 

{continued). 

Character  of  the  Revelation  and  its  Views  of  Nature. — Natural  Law. — 
Progress  and  Development.  —  Purpose  and  Use. — Type  or  Pat- 
tern   70 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   BEGINNING. 

The  Universe  not  eternal.— Its  Creation.— The  Heavens.— The  Earth.— 
The  Creator,  Elohim. — The  Beginning  very  Remote  in  Time 87 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE    DESOLATE    VOID. 

Characteristics  of  Biblical  Chaos.  — The  Primitive  Deep.— The  Divine 
Spirit.— The  Breath  of  God.— Chaos  in  other  Cosmogonies.— Chemi- 
cal and  Physical  Conditions  of  the  Primitive  Chaos 100 


vi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

LIGHT  AND   CREATIVE   DAYS. 

What  is  Implied  in  Cosmic  Light. — Its  Gradual  Condensation. — Day  and 
Night.  —  Days  of  Creation. — Their  Nature  and  Length.  —  They  are 
Olams,  ^ons  or  Time-worlds. — Objections  to  this  View  Answered. 
— Confirmations  from  Extraneous  Sources 115 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   ATMOSPHERE. 

Its  Present  Constitution. — Waters  Above  and  Below. — The  "Expanse" 
of  Genesis  not  a  Solid  Arch. — Mythology  of  the  Atmosphere. — 
Superstitions  connected  with  it  Opposed  by  the  Bible 157 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE   DRY    LAND   AND   THE    FIRST   PLANTS. 

The  Earth  of  the  Bible  is  the  Dry  Land. — Its  Elevation  and  Support 
above  the  Waters. — Structure  of  the  Continents  arranged  from  the 
first. — The  First  Vegetation. — Its  Nature. — Introduction  of  Life. — 
Organization  and  Reproduction.  —  Objections  considered.  —  Geolog- 
ical Indications 174 

CHAPTER  IX. 

LUMINARIES. 

How  Introduced. — What  Implied  in  this. — Dominion  of  Existing  Causes. 
— Astronomy  of  the  Hebrews. — Not  Connected  with  Astrology..   199 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE    LOWER   ANIMALS. 

The  Sheretzim,  or  Swarmers. — Their  Origin  from  the  Waters. — The  Great 
Reptiles. — Their  Creation. — Coincidences  with  Geology. — Hypotheses 
of  Evolution 211 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE    HIGHER   ANIMALS   AND    MAN. 

The  Placental  Mammals. — The  Principal  Groups  of  these. — Man,  how 
Introduced. — His  Early  Condition. — His  Relations  to  Nature.. .  230 


Contents,  vii 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    REST   OF   THE   CREATOR. 

The  Sabbath  of  Creation.— The  Modern  Period.— Its  Early  History.— The 
Fall  and  Antediluvian  Man. — Postdiluvian  Extension  of  Men. . ..  249 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

UNITY   AND    ANTIQUITY    OF    MAN. 

Biblical  Account  of  his  Introduction  and  Early  History. — Historical  Tes- 
timony with  respect  to  his  Unity  and  Antiquity.  —  Testimony  of 
Language 263 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

UNITY   AND   ANTIQUITY    OF    MAN    {continued). 

Geological  Evidence  of  Antiquity  of  Man. — General  Conditions  of  Post- 
glacial and  Modern  Periods.  —  Remains  of  Man  in  Caverns,  in 
River-gravels,  etc. — Paloeocosmic  and  Neocosmic  Men 294 

CHAPTER  XV. 

COMPARISONS   AND    CONCLUSIONS. 

Geological  Chronolog)'. — Table  of  Succession  of  Life. — Points  of  Agree- 
ment of  the  Two  Records. — Parallelism  of  Genesis  and  Physical  Sci- 
ence with  Reference  to  the  Origin  and  Early  History  of  the  World. — 
Conclusion 322 


APPENDICES. 

A.— True  and  False  Evolution 363 

P.— Evolution  and  Creation  by  Law 373 

C. — Modes  of  Creation 377 

D.— Theories  of  Life Z^Z 

E.— Recent  Facts  as  to  the  Antiquity  of  Man 386 

F. — Glacial  Periods  in  Connection  with  Genesis 395 

G.— Chemistry  of  the  Primeval  Earth , 400 

H.— Tannin  and  Bhemah 405 

I. — Ancient  Mythologies 4o8 

K. — Assyrian  and  Egyptian  Texts 4^2 

L.— Species  and  Var'ieties  in  Connection  with  Evolution  and  the 

Unity  of  Man 4^4 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  MYSTERY  OF  ORIGINS  AND  ITS  SOLUTIONS. 

"  The  things  that  are  seen  are  temporal." — Paul. 
Have  we  or  can  we  have  any  certain  solution  of  those  two 
great  questions — Whence  are  all  things  ?  and  Whither  do  all 
things  tend  ?  No  thinking  man  is  content  to  live  merely  in  a 
transitory  present,  ever  emerging  out  of  darkness  and  ever 
returning  thither  again,  without  knowing  any  thing  of  the 
origin  and  issue  of  the  world  and  its  inhabitants.  Yet  it 
would  seem  that  to-day  men  are  as  much  in  uncertainty  on 
these  subjects  as  at  any  previous  time.  It  even  appears  as  if 
all  our  added  knowledge  would  only,  for  a  time  at  least,  de- 
prive us  of  the  solutions  to  which  we  trusted,  and  give  no 
others  in  their  room.  Christians  have  been  accustomed  to 
rest  on  the  cosmogony  and  prophecy  of  the  Bible;  but  we  are 
now  frankly  told  on  all  hands  that  these  are  valueless,  and 
that  even  ministers  of  religion  more  or  less  "  sacrifice  their 
sincerity"  in  making  them  the  basis  of  their  teachings.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  are  informed  that  nothing  can  be  discern- 
ed in  the  universe  beyond  matter  and  force,  and  that  it  is  by 
a  purely  material  and  spontaneous  evolution  that  all  things 

A  2 


nonRTY  LIBKARY 
fi,  C.  State  Coiku^ 


10  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

exist.  But  when  we  ask  as  to  the  origin  of  matter  and  force, 
and  the  laws  which  regulate  them — as  to  the  end  to  which 
their  movement  is  tending,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  evolved  the  myriad  forms  of  life  and  the  human  intel- 
ligence itself — the  only  answer  is  that  these  are  "  insoluble 
mysteries." 

Are  we,  then,  to  fall  back  on  the  real  or  imagined  revela- 
tions and  traditions  of  the  past,  and  to  endeavor  to  find  in 
them  some  foothold  of  assurance;  or  are  we  to  wait  till  further 
progress  in  science  may  have  cleared  up  some  of  the  present 
mysteries  ?  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  former  alternative, 
all  honest  students  of  science  will  unite  with  me  in  the  ad- 
mission that  the  latter  is  hopeless.  We  need  not  seek  to  be- 
little the  magnificent  triumphs  of  modern  science.  They  have 
been  real  and  stupendous.  But  it  is  of  their  very  nature  to 
conduct  us  to  ultimate  facts  and  laws  of  which  science  can 
give  no  explanation;  and  the  further  we  push  our  inquiries 
the  more  insuperably  does  the  wall  of  mystery  rise  before  us. 
It  is  true  we  can  furnish  the  materials  for  philosophical  spec- 
ulations which  may  be  built  on  scientific  facts  and  principles; 
but  these  are  in  their  nature  uncertain,  and  must  constantly 
change  as  knowledge  advances.  They  can  not  solve  for  us 
the  great  practical  problems  of  our  origin  and  destiny. 

In  these  circumstances  no  apology  is  needed  for  a  thorough 
and  careful  inquiry  into  those  foundations  of  religious  belief 
which  rest  on  the  idea  of  a  revelation  of  origins  and  destinies 
made  to  man  from  without,  and  on  which  we  may  build  the 
superstructure  of  a  rational  religion,  giving  guidance  for  the 
present  and  hope  for  the  future.  In  the  following  pages  I 
propose  to  enter  upon  so  much  of  this  subject  as  relates  to  the 
origin  and  earliest  history  of  the  world,  in  so  far  as  these  are 
treated  of  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  traditions  of  the  more  an- 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        ii 

cient  nations ;  and  this  with  reference  to  the  present  stand- 
point of  science  in  relation  to  these  questions. 

To  discuss  such  questions  at  all,  certain  preliminary  ad- 
missions are  necessary.  These  are  :  (i)  The  reality  of  an  un- 
seen universe,  spiritual  rather  than  material  in  its  nature.- 
(2)  The  existence  of  a  personal  God,  or  of  a  great  Universal 
Will.  (3)  The  possibility  of  communication  taking  place  be- 
tween God  and  man.  I  do  not  propose  to  attempt  any  proof 
of  these  positions,  but  it  may  be  well  to  explain  what  they 
mean. 

(i)  That  the  great  machine  for  the  dissipation  of  energy, in 
which  we  exist,  and  which  we  call  the  universe,  must  have  a 
correlative  and  complement  in  the  unseen,  is  a  conclusion 
now  forced  upon  physicists  by  the  necessities  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  conservation  of  force.  In  short,  it  seems  that,  unless 
we  admit  this  conclusion,  we  can  not  believe  in  the  possible 
existence  of  the  material  universe  itself,  and  must  sink  into 
absolute  nihilism.  This  doctrine  is  expressed  by  the  apostle 
Paul  in  the  statement,  "  The  things  that  are  seen  are  tempo- 
ral, but  the  things  that  are  not  seen  are  eternal,"  and  it  has 
been  ably  discussed  by  the  authors  of  the  remarkable  work, 
"The  Unseen  Universe."  That  this  unseen  world  is  spirit- 
ual— that  is,  not  subject  to  the  same  material  laws  with  the 
visible  universe — is  also  a  fair  deduction  from  physical  science, 
as  well  as  a  doctrine  of  Scripture.  I  prefer  the  term  spiritual 
to  supernatural,  because  the  first  is  the  term  used  in  the  Bible, 
and  because  the  latter  has  had  associated  with  it  ideas  of  the 
miraculous  and  abnormal,  not  implied  at  all  in  the  idea  of 
the  spiritual,  which  in  some  important  senses  may  be  more 
natural  than  the  material. 

(2)  The  idea  of  a  personal  God  implies  not  merely  the  ex- 
istence of  an  unknown  absolute  power,  as  Herbert  Spencer 


12  llie  Origin  of  the   World, 

seems  to  hold,  or  of  "  an  Eternal,  not  ourselves,  that  makes 
for  righteousness,"  as  Matthew  Arnold  puts  it,  but  of  a  Being 
of  whom  we  can  affirm  will,  intelligence,  feeling,  self- con- 
sciousness, not  certainly  precisely  as  they  occur  in  us,  but  in 
a  higher  and  more  perfect  form,  of  which  our  own  conscious- 
ness furnishes  the  type,  or  "  image  and  shadow,"  as  Moses 
long  ago  phrased  it.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  true  that  we  can 
not  fully  comprehend  such  a  personal  God,  because  not  lim- 
ited by  the  conditions  which  limit  us.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  clear  that  our  intellect,  as  constituted,  can  furnish  us  with 
no  ultimate  explanation  of  the  universe  except  in  the  action  of 
such  a  primary  personal  will.  In  the  Bible  the  absolute  per- 
sonality of  God  is  expressed  by  the  title  "  I  am."  His  inti- 
mate relation  to  us  is  indicated  by  the  expression, "  In  him 
we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being."  His  all-pervading 
essence  is  stated  as  "the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 
His  relative  personality  is  shadowed  forth  by  the  attribution 
to  him  of  love,  anger,  and  other  human  feelings  and  sentiments, 
and  by  presenting  him  in  the  endearing  relation  of  the  uni- 
versal Father. 

(3)  With  reference  to  the  possibility  of  communication  be- 
tween God  and  man,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  such  communi- 
cation is  not  only  possible,  but  infinitely  probable.  God  is 
not  only  near  to  us,  but  we  are  in  him,  and,  independently  of 
the  testimony  of  revelation,  it  has  been  felt  by  all  classes  of 
men,  from  the  rudest  and  most  primitive  savages  up  to  our 
great  English  philosopher,  John  Stuart  Mill,  that  if  there  is  a 
God,  he  can  not  be  excluded  from  communion  with  his  intel- 
ligent creatures,  either  directly  or  through  the  medium  of 
ministering  spirits.*     Farther,  placed  as  man  is  in  the  midst 

*  Essays  on  Theism,  1875. 


Thc^  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.         i 


of  complex  and  to  him  inexplicable  phenomena,  involved  in 
a  conflict  of  good  and  evil,  happiness  and  misery,  to  which 
the  wisest  and  the  greatest  minds  have  found  no  issue,  sub- 
ject to  be  degraded  by  low  passions  and  tempted  to  great  ex- 
tremes of  evil,  and  himself  weak,  impulsive,  and  vacillating, 
there  seems  the  most  urgent  need  for  divine  communication. 
It  may  be  said  that  these  are  conflicts  and  problems  which 
God  has  left  man  to  decide  and  solve  for  himself  by  his  own 
reason.  But  when  we  consider  how  slow  this  process  is,  and 
how  imperfect  even  now,  after  the  experience  of  ages,  we 
seem  to  need  some  intervention  that  shall  stimulate  the 
human  mind,  and  impel  it  forward  with  greater  rapidity. 
Farther,  it  would  appear  only  right  that  an  intelligent  and 
accountable  being,  placed  in  a  world  like  this,  should  have 
some  explanation  of  his  origin  and  destiny  given  him  at  first, 
and  that,  if  he  should  perchance  go  astray,  a  helping  hand 
should  be  extended  to  him. 

Practically  it  is  an  historical  fact  that  all  the  great  im- 
*  pulses  given  to  humanity  have  been  by  men  claiming  divine 
guidance  or  inspiration,  and  professing  to  bring  light  and 
truth  from  the  unseen  world.  It  would  be  too  much  to  say 
that  all  these  prophets  and  reformers  have  been  inspired  of 
heaven  ;  but  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  they  have  either 
received  a  message  of  God,  or  have  been  permitted  to  trans- 
mit to  our  world  messages  for  weal  or  woe  from  powers  with- 
out in  subordination  to  him.  Farther,  we  shall  have  reason 
in  the  sequel  to  see  that  in  far  back  prehistoric  times  there 
must  have  been  impulses  given  to  mankind,  and  revelations 
made  to  them,  as  potent  as  those  which  have  acted  in  later 
historic  periods.  In  Holy  Scripture  the  Word  of  God  is  rep- 
resented as  "  enlightening  every  man  f  and  with  reference  to 

*  John  i.,  9. 


14  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 

our  present  subject  we  are  told  that  "  by  faith  we  understand 
that  the  ages  of  the  world  were  constituted  by  the  Word  of 
God,  so  that  the  visible  things  were  not  made  of  those  which 
appear."*  In  other  words,  that  the  will  of  God  has  been  act- 
ive and  operative  as  the  sole  cause  throughout  all  ages  of  the 
world's  creation  and  history,  and  that  the  visible  universe  is 
not  a  mere  product  of  its  own  phenomena.  AVe  may  call 
this  faith,  if  we  please,  an  intuition  or  instinct,  a  God-given 
gift,  or  a  product  of  our  own  thought  acting  on  evidence  af- 
forded by  the  outer  world  ;  but  in  any  case  it  seems  to  be 
the  sole  possible  solution  of  the  mystery  of  origins. 

These  points  being  premised,  we  are  in  a  position  to  in- 
quire as  to  the  teaching  of  our  own  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in 
this  inquiry  we  can  easily  take  along  with  them  all  other  rev- 
elations, pretended  or  true,  that  deal  with  our  subject. 

Max  Miiller,  in  his  lectures  on  the  Science  of  Religion,  re- 
jects the  ordinary  division  into  natural  and  revealed,  and 
adopts  a  threefold  grouping,  corresponding  to  the  great 
division  of  languages  into  Turanian,  Aryan,  and  Semitic. 
With  some  modification  and  explanation,  this  classification 
will  serve  well  our  present  purpose.  As  to  natural  and  re- 
vealed religions,  if  we  regard  our  own  as  revealed,  v/e  must 
admit  an  element  of  revelation  in  all  others  as  well.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  revelation  began  in  Eden, 
and  was  continued  more  or  less  in  all  successive  ages  up  to 
the  apostolic  times.  Consequently  the  earlier  revelations  of 
the  antediluvian  and  postdiluvian  times  must  have  been  the 
common  property  of  all  races,  and  must  have  been  associated 
with  whatever  elements  of  natural  religion  they  had.  When, 
therefore,  we  call  our  religion  distinctively  a  revealed  one,  we 

*  Hebrews  xi.,  3. 


TJic  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.       15 

must  admit  that  traces  of  the  same  revelation  may  be  found 
in  all  others.  On  the  other  hand,  when  we  characterize  our 
religion  as  Hebrew  or  Semitic,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  in 
its  earlier  stages  it  was  not  so  limited  ;  but  that,  if  as  old  as  it 
professes  to  be,  it  must  include  a  substratum  common  to  it 
with  the  old  religions  of  the  Turanians  and  Aryans.  Neglect 
of  these  very  simple  considerations  often  leads  to  great  con- 
fusion in  the  minds  both  of  Christians  and  unbelievers,  as  to 
the  relation  of  Christianity  to  heathenism,  and  especially  to 
the  older  and  more  primitive  forms  of  heathenism. 

The  Turanian  stock,  of  which  the  Mongolian  peoples  of 
Northern  Asia  may  be  taken  as  the  t3'pe,  includes  also  the 
American  races,  and  the  oldest  historical  populations  of 
Western  Asia  and  of  Europe  ;  and  they  are  the  peoples  who, 
in  their  physical  features  and  their  art  tendencies,  m.ost  near- 
ly resemble  the  prehistoric  men  of  the  caves  and  gravels. 
They  largely  consist  of  the  populations  which  the  Bible  af- 
filiates with  Ham.  They  are  remarkable  for  their  permanent 
and  stationary  forms  of  civilization  or  barbarism,  and  for  the 
languages  least  developed  in  grammatical  structure.  These 
people  had  and  still  have  traditions  of  the  creation  and  early 
history  of  man  similar  to  those  in  the  earlier  Biblical  books; 
but  the  connection  of  their  religions  with  that  of  the  Bible 
breaks  off  from  the  time  of  Abraham ;  and  the  earlier  portions 
of  revelation  which  they  possessed  became  disintegrated  into 
a  polytheism  which  takes  very  largely  the  form  of  animism, 
or  of  attributing  some  special  spiritual  indwelling  to  all  nat- 
ural objects,  and  also  that  of  worship  of  ancestors  and  he- 
roes. The  portion  of  primitive  theological  belief  to  which 
they  have  clung  most  persistently  is  the  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  w^hich  in  all  their  religious  beliefs  oc- 
cupies a  prominent  place,  and  has  always  been  connected 


1 6  The  Origin  of  the  Woj'ld. 

with  special  attention  to  rites  of  sepulture  and  monuments  to 
the  dead.  Their  version  of  the  revelation  of  creation  appears 
most  distinctly  in  the  sacred  book  of  the  Quiches  of  Central 
America,  and  in  the  creation  myths  of  the  Mexicans,  Iroquois, 
Algonquins,  and  other  North  American  tribes  ;  and  it  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  through  the  Semitic  Assyrians  from 
the  ancient  Chaldseo-turanian  population  of  the  valley  of  tlie 
Euphrates. 

The  Aryan  races  have  been  remarkable  for  their  change- 
able and  versatile  character.  Their  religious  ideas  in  the 
most  primitive  times  appear  to  have  been  not  dissimilar  from 
those  of  the  Turanians  ;  and  the  Indians,  Persians,  Greeks, 
Scandinavians,  and  Celts  have  all  gone  some  length  in  de- 
veloping and  modifying  these,  apparently  by  purely  human 
imaginative  and  intellectual  materials.  But  all  these  devel- 
opments were  defective  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  and  had 
lost  the  stability  and  rational  basis  which  proceed  from 
monotheism.  Hence  they  have  given  way  before  other  and 
higher  faiths ;  and  at  this  day  the  more  advanced  nations  of 
the  Aryan,  or  in  Scriptural  language  the  Japhetic  stock,  have 
adopted  the  Semitic  faith;  and,  as  Noah  long  ago  predicted, 
"  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem."  No  indigenous  account  of  the 
genesis  of  things  remains  among  the  Aryan  races,  with  the 
exception  of  that  in  the  Avesta,  and  in  some  ancient  Hin- 
doo hymns,  and  these  are  merely  variations  of  the  Turanian 
or  Semitic  cosmogony.  God  has  given  to  the  Aryans  no  spe- 
cial revelations  of  his  will,  and  they  would  have  been  left  to 
grope  for  themselves  along  the  paths  of  science  and  philoso- 
phy, but  for  the  advent  among  them  of  the  prophets  of  "  Je- 
hovah the  God  of  Shem." 

It  is  to  the  Semitic  race  that  God  has  been  most  liberal  in 
his  gift  of  inspiration.     Gathering  up  and  treasuring  the  old 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        17 

common  inheritance  of  religion,  and  eliminating  from  it  the 
accretions  of  superstition,  the  children  of  Abraham  at  one 
time  stood  alone,  or  almost  alone,  as  adherents  of  a  belief  in 
one  God  the  Creator.  Their  theology  was  added  to  from 
age  to  age  by  a  succession  of  prophets,  all  working  in  one  line 
of  development,  till  it  culminated  in  the  appearance  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  then  proceeded  to  expand  itself  over  the  other 
races.  Among  them  it  has  undergone  two  remarkable  phases 
of  retrograde  development  —  the  one  in  Mohammedanism, 
which  carries  it  back  to  a  resemblance  to  its  own  earlier  pa- 
triarchal stage,  the  other  in  Roman  and  Greek  ecclesiasticism, 
which  have  taken  it  back  to  the  Levitical  system,  along  with  a 
strong  color  of  paganism.  Still  its  original  documents  survive, 
and  retain  their  hold  on  large  portions  of  the  more  enlightened 
Aryan  nations,  while  through  their  means  these  documents 
have  entered  on  a  new  career  of  conquest  among  the  Semites 
and  Turanians.  They  are,  however,  it  must  be  admitted, 
among  the  Aryan  races  of  Europe,  growing  in  a  somewhat 
uncongenial  soil ;  partly  because  of  the  materialistic  organi- 
zation of  these  races,  and  partly  because  of  the  abundant  re- 
mains of  heathenism  which  still  linger  among  them  ;  and  it 
is  possible  that  they  may  not  realize  their  full  triumphs  over 
humanity  till  the  Semitic  races  return  to  the  position  of  Abra- 
ham, and  erect  again  in  the  world  the  standard  of  monothe- 
istic faith,  under  the  auspices  of  a  purified  Christianity. 

It  follows  from  this  hasty  survey  that  it  is  the  Semitic  solu- 
tion of  the  question  of  origins,  as  contained  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  that  mainly  concerns  us  ;  and  in  the  first  place 
we  must  consider  the  foundation  and  historical  development 
of  this  solution,  as  many  misconceptions  prevail  on  these 
points.  We  may  discuss  these  subjects  under  the  heads  of 
the  Abrahamic  Genesis  and  the  Mosaic  Genesis,  and  may  in 


1 8  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

a  subsequent  chapter  consider  the  results  of  these  in  the 
Genesis  of  the  later  Scripture  writers. 

THE   ABRAHAMIC    GENESIS. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  theory  with  some  learned  men  that 
the  earlier  parts  of  the  book  of  Genesis  existed  as  ancient 
documents  even  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and  were  incorporated 
by  him  in  his  work,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  separate, 
on  various  grounds,  the  older  from  the  newer  portions.  Un- 
til lately,  however,  these  attempts  have  been  altogether  con- 
jectural and  destitute  of  any  positive  basis  of  archaeological 
fact.  A  new  and  interesting  aspect  has  been  given  to  them 
by  the  recent-  readings  of  the  inscriptions  on  clay  tablets 
found  at  Nineveh,  and  to  which  especial  attention  has  been 
given  by  the  late  Mr.  G.  Smith,  of  the  Archaeological  Depart- 
ment of  the  British  Museum. 

Assurbanipal,  king  of  Assyria,  one  of  the  kings  known  to 
the  Greeks  by  the  name  of  Sardanapalus,  reigned  at  Nine- 
veh about  B.C.  673.  He  was  a  grandson  of  the  Biblical 
Sennacherib,  and  son  of  Esarhaddon,  and  it  seems  that  he 
had  inherited  from  his  fathers  a  library  of  Chaldean  and  As- 
syrian literature,  written  not  on  perishable  paper  or  parch- 
ment, but  on  tablets  of  clay,  and  containing  much  ancient 
lore  of  the  nations  inhabiting  the  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates.  Assurbanipal,  living  when  the  Assyrian  empire 
had  attained  to  the  acme  of  its  greatness,  had  leisure  to  be- 
come a  greater  patron  of  learning  than  any  preceding  king. 
His  scribes  ransacked  the  record  chambers  of  the  oldest  tem- 
ples in  the  world  ;  and  Babel,  Erech,  Accad,  and  Ur  had  to 
yield  up  their  treasures  of  history  and  theology  to  diligent 
copyists,  who  transcribed  them  in  beautiful  arrow-head  char- 
acters on  new  clay  tablets,  and  deposited  them  in  the  library 


TJie  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        19 

of  the  great  king.  It  would  appear  that,  at  the  same  time, 
these  documents  were  edited,  archaic  forms  of  expression 
translated,  and  lacunae  caused  by  decay  or  fracture  re- 
paired. They  were  also  inscribed  with  legends  stating  the 
sources  whence  they  had  been  derived. 

The  empire  of  Assyria  went  down  in  blood,  and  its  palaces 
were  destroyed  with  fire,  but  the  imperishable  clay  tablets 
which  had  formed  the  treasure  of  their  libraries  remained, 
more  or  less  broken  it  is  true,  among  the  ruins.  Exhumed 
by  Layard  and  Smith,  they  are  now  among  the  collections  of 
the  British  Museum,  and  their  decipherment  is  throwing  a  new 
and  strange  light  on  the  cosmogony  and  religions  of  the  early 
East.  Though  the  date  of  the  writing  of  these  tablets  is  com- 
paratively modern,  being  about  the  time  of  the  later  kings  of 
Judah,  the  original  records  from  which  they  were  transcribed 
profess  to  have  been  very  ancient — some  of  them  about  1600 
years  before  the  time  of  Assurbanipal,  so  that  they  go  back  to 
a  time  anterior  to  that  of  the  early  Hebrew  patriarchs.  Their 
genuineness  has  been  endorsed,  in  one  case,  by  the  discovery 
by  Mr.  Loftus,  in  the  city  of  Senkereh,  of  an  apparent  origi- 
nal, bearing  date  about  1600  years  before  Christ,  and  other 
inscriptions  of  equal  or  greater  antiquity  have  been  found  in 
the  ruins  of  Ur,  on  the  Euphrates.  Nor  does  there  seem 
any  reason  to  doubt  that  the  scribes  of  Assurbanipal  faith- 
fully transcribed  the  oldest  records  extant  in  their  time. 
Their  care  and  diligence  are  also  shown  by  the  fact  that 
where  different  versions  of  these  records  existed  in  different 
cities,  they  have  made  copies  of  these  variant  manuscripts,  in- 
stead of  attempting  to  reduce  them  to  one  text.  The  sub- 
jects treated  of  in  the  Nineveh  tablets  are  very  various, 
but  those  that  concern  our  present  purpose  are  the  docu- 
ments relating   to  the    creation,  the   fall   of  man,  and  the 


20  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

deluge,  of  which  considerable  portions  have  been  recovered, 
and  have  been  translated  by  Mr.  Smith. 

These  documents  carry  us  back  to  a  time  when  the  Tura- 
nian religions  had  not  yet  been  separated  from  the  Semitic. 
The  early  Chaldeans,  termed  Cushites  in  the  Bible,  and  who 
under  Nimrod  seem  to  have  established  the  first  empire  in 
that  region,  are  now  known  to  have  been  Turanian ;  and 
among  them  apparently  arose  at  a  very  early  period  a  litera- 
ture and  a  mythology.  The  Chaldeans  were  politically  subju- 
gated by  the  Semitic  Assyrians,  but  they  retained  their  re- 
ligious predominance  ;  and  until  a  comparatively  late  period 
existed  as  a  learned  and  priestly  caste.  To  these  primitive 
Chasdim  were  undoubtedly  due  the  creation  legends  collected 
by  the  scribes  of  Assurbanipal.  They  were  obtained  in  the 
old  Chaldean  cities,  in  the  temples  under  the  guardianship  of 
Chaldean  priests  ;  and  their  date  carries  them  back  to  a  time 
anterior  to  the  Assyrian  conquest,  and  in  which  Chaldean 
kings  still  reigned.  Here,  then,  we  have  an  important  con- 
necting link  between  the  cosmogonies  of  the  Turanian  and 
Semitic  races  ;  and  leaving  out  of  sight  for  the  present  the 
legends  of  the  deluge  and  other  matters  allied  to  it,  we  may 
inquire  as  to  the  nature  and  contents  of  the  Assyrian  and 
Chaldean  record  of  creation. 

The  Assyrian  Genesis  is  similar  in  order  and  arrangement 
to  that  in  our  own  Bible,  and  gives  the  same  general  order  of 
the  creative  work.  Its  days,  however,  of  creation,  as  indeed 
there  is  good  internal  evidence  to  prove  those  of  Moses  also 
are,  seem  to  be  periods  or  ages.  It  treats  of  the  creation  of 
gods,  as  well  as  of  the  universe,  and  thus  introduces  a  poly- 
theistic system ;  and  it  seems  to  recognize,  like  the  Avesta,  a 
primitive  principle  of  evil,  presiding  over  chaos,  and  subse- 
quently introducing  evil  among  men.     These  points  may  be 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.       21 

illustrated  by  an  extract  from  Mr.  Smith's  translation.     It  re- 
lates to  the  earlier  part  of  the  work  : 

"  When  above  were  not  raised  the  heavens, 
And  below  on  the  earth  a  plant  had  not  grown  up 
The  deep  also  had  not  broken  up  its  boundaries 
Chaos  (or  water)  Tiamat  (the  sea  or  abyss)  was  the  producing  mother 

of  them  all 
These  waters  at  the  beginning  were  ordained 
But  a  tree  had  not  grown  a  flower  had  not  unfolded 
When  the  gods  had  not  sprung  up  any  one  of  them 
A  plant  had  not  grown  and  order  did  not  exist 
Were  made  also  the  great  gods 

The  gods  Lahma  and  Lahamu  they  caused  to  come  *  *  * 
And  they  grew  *  *  * 
The  gods  Sar  and  Kisar  were  made 
A  course  of  days  and  a  long  time  passed 
The  god  Anu  *  *  * 
The  gods  Sar  and  *  *  *  " 

Here  the  first  existences  are  Chaos  (Mummu,  or  confusion) 
and  Tiamat,  which  is  the  Thalatth  of  Berosus,  representing 
the  sea  or  primitive  abyss,  but  also  recognized  as  a  female 
deity  or  first  mother.  Then  we  have  Lahma  and  Lahamu, 
which  represent  power  or  motion  in  nature,  and  are  the  equiv- 
alents of  the  Divine  Spirit  moving  on  the  face  of  the  waters 
in  our  Genesis.  Next  we  have  the  production  of  Sar  or  Hoar 
and  Kisar,  representing  the  expanse  or  firmament.  Sar  is 
supposed  to  be  the  god  Assur  of  the  Assyrians,  a  great 
weather  god,  and  after  whom  their  nation  and  its  founder 
were  named.  The  next  process  is  the  creation  of  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,  represented  by  Anu  and  Anatu.  Anu  was  al- 
ways one  of  the  greater  gods,  and  was  identified  with  the 
higher  or  starry  heavens.  In  succeeding  tablets  to  this  we 
find  Bel  or  Belus  introduced,  as  the  agent  in  the  creation  of 


no 


The  Origin  of  the  World. 


animals  and  of  men ;  and  he  is  the  true  Demiurgus  or  Me- 
diator of  the  Assyrian  system.  Next  we  have  the  introduction 
of  Hea  or  Saturn,  who  is  the  equivalent  of  the  Biblical  Adam, 
and  of  Ishtar,  mother  of  men,  who  is  the  Isha  or  Eve  of 
Genesis.  The  rest  of  this  legend  evidently  relates  to  dei- 
fied men,  among  whom  are  INIerodach,  Nebo,  and  other  he- 
roes. 

The  first  remark  that  we  may  make  on  this  Assyrian  Gene- 
sis is  that,  while  it  resembles  generally  the  Mosaic  account  of 
creation,  it  also  strongly  resembles  the  old  cosmogonies  of 
the  Egyptians  and  Persians,  and  those  of  the  widely  scattered 
Turanians  of  Northern  Asia  and  of  America.  As  an  extreme 
illustration  of  this,  and  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  digression 
at  this  point  of  our  inquiry,  I  introduce  here  some  extracts 
from  the  Popul  Vuh,  or  sacred  book  of  the  Quiche  Indians 
of  Central  America,  an  undoubted  product  of  prehistoric  re- 
ligion in  the  western  continent.* 

"  And  the  heaven  was  formed,  and  all  the  signs  thereof  set  in  their 
angle  and  alignment,  and  its  boundaries  fixed  toward  the  four  winds  by 
the  Creator  and  Former,  and  Mother  and  Father  of  life  and  existence — he 
by  whom  all  move  and  breathe,  the  Father  and  Cherisher  of  the  peace  of 
nations  and  of  the  civilization  of  his  people — he  whose  wisdom  has  pro- 
jected the  excellence  of  all  that  is  on  the  earth  or  in  the  lakes  or  in  the 
sea." 

"  Behold  the  first  word  and  the  first  discourse.  There  w^as  yet  no  man 
nor  any  animal,  *  *  *  nothing  w^as  but  the  firmament.  The  face  of  the  earth 
had  not  yet  appeared  over  the  peaceful  sea,  and  all  the  space  of  heaven 
*  *  *  nothing  but  immobility  and  silence  in  the  night." 

"Alone  also  the  Creator,  the  Former,  the  Dominator,  the  Feathered 
Serpent — those  that  engender,  those  that  give  being — they  are  upon  the 

*  I  avail  myself  of  the  condensed  translation  in  Bancroft's  "  Native 
Races,"  vol.  iii.  The  original  French  translation  of  Brasseur  du  Bour- 
bourg  is  more  full. 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        23 

water  like  a  growing  light.  They  are  enveloped  in  green  and  blue,  and 
therefore  their  name  is  Gucumatz."* 

"  Lo  now  how  the  heavens  exist,  how  exists  also  the  Heart  of  Heaven  ; 
such  is  the  name  of  God.  It  is  thus  that  he  is  called.  And  they  spake, 
they  consulted  together  and  meditated;  they  mingled  their  words  and 
their  opinions." 

"  And  the  creation  [of  the  earth]  was  verily  after  this  wise.  Earth, 
they  said,  and  on  the  instant  it  was  formed ;  like  a  cloud  or  a  fog  was 
its  beginning.  Then  the  mountains  rose  over  the  water  like  great  fishes  ; 
in  an  instant  the  mountains  and  the  plains  were  visible,  and  the  cypress 
and  the  pine  appeared.  Then  was  the  Gucumatz  filled  with  joy,  crying 
out :  Blessed  be  thy  coming,  O  Heart  of  Heaven,  Hurakan,  Thunderbolt. 
Our  work  and  our  labor  has  accomplished  its  end." 

This  corresponds  to  the  work  of  the  first  four  creative  days; 
and  next  details  are  given  as  to  the  introduction  of  animals, 
with  which,  however,  the  Creator  is  represented  as  dissatisfied, 
because  they  could  not  know  or  invoke  the  Creator.  They 
are  therefore  condemned  to  be  subject  to  be  devoured  one  of 
another.  Again  there  is  a  council  in  heaven,  and  the  gods 
determine  to  make  man.  But  he  also  is  imperfect,  for  he  has 
speech  without  intelligence:  so  he  is  condemned  to  be  de- 
stroyed by  water.  A  new  council  is  held,  and  a  second  race 
of  men  produced ;  but  this  fails  in  the  capacity  for  religious 
worship — "  they  forgot  the  Heart  of  Heaven."  These  were 
partly  destroyed  by  fire  and  partly  converted  into  apes. 
Lastly  another  council  is  held,  and  perfect  men  created. 
Then  follows  a  remarkable  series  of  stories  relating  to  the 
early  history  and  migrations  of  men. 

It  is  known  that  similar  creation  myths  existed  among  the 

*  The  Feathered  Serpent  is  perhaps  the  representative  of  the  Dragon 
and  Serpent  in  the  Semitic  version ;  but  has  not  the  same  evil  import, 
and  his  color  gave  sacredness  to  blue  and  green  stones,  as  the  turquois 
and  emerald,  both  in  North  and  South  America,  and  perhaps  also  in  Asia 
and  Africa. 


24  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Mexicans  and  other  early  civilized  nations  of  America,  and 
in  ruder  and  more  grotesque  forms  even  among  the  semi-bar- 
barous and  hunter  tribes.  Their  connection  with  the  ancient 
Semitic  and  Turanian  revelations  of  Asia  is  unquestionable. 

We  have  thus  in  the  Assyrian  Genesis  a  relic  of  early  relig- 
ious belief  belonging  to  a  period  when  such  widely  separated 
stocks  as  the  Assyrian  and  American  were  still  one  :  to  a 
period,  therefore,  presumably  long  anterior  to  that  of  Moses. 
Yet  at  this  very  early  period  the  central  portions  at  least  of 
the  Turanian  race  had  already  devised  some  means  of  record- 
ing their  traditions  in  writing — probably  the  arrow-head  writ- 
ing, afterwards  used  by  the  Assyrians,  had  already  been  in- 
vented. Again,  at  this  early  period  a  complex  polytheism 
had  already  sprung  up,  and  this  was  connected  with  cosmo- 
logical  ideas,  inasmuch  as  the  primitive  abyss,  the  firmament, 
the  starry  heavens,  the  principle  of  life,  were  all  subordinate 
gods ;  and  so  were  also  some  of  the  earliest  of  the  patriarchs 
of  the  human  race.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  this  was 
among  the  early  Chaldeans  an  exoteric  representation  for  the 
vulgar,  and  that  the  priestly  caste  may  have  understood  it  in 
a  monotheistic  sense.  In  any  case,  the  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Creator  remains  behind  the  whole.  Farther,  in  the  early 
Chaldean  record  we  have  a  more  detailed  and  expanded 
document  than  that  of  the  Hebrew  Genesis,  probably  intend- 
ed for  the  popular  ear,  and  to  include  as  much  as  possible  of 
the  current  mythology.  As  an  example,  I  quote  the  follow- 
ing in  relation  to  the  creation  of  the  moon,  being  apparently 
a  part  of  the  narrative  of  that  creative  period  corresponding 
with  the  fourth  day  of  Genesis  : 

"  In  its  mass  [that  is,  of  the  lower  chaos]  he  made  a  boiling, 
The  God  Uiu  [the  moon]  he  caused  to  rise  out,  the  night  he  over- 
shadowed. 


H.  C  State  C#/i«f « 


TJie  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        25 

To  fix  it  also  for  the  light  of  the  night  until  the  shining  of  the  day, 
That  the  month  might  not  be  broken  and  in  its  amount  be  regular. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  month  at  the  rising  of  the  night, 
His  horns  are  breaking  through  to  shine  in  the  heavens. 
On  the  seventh  day  to  a  circle  he  begins  to  swell, 
And  stretches  toward  the  dawn  farther." 


We  now  come  to  the  historical  connection  of  all  this  with 
Abraham  and  with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  early  life  of 
the  "Father  of  the  Faithful"  belongs  to  the  time  v/hen  Tu- 
ranian and  Semitic  elements  were  mingled  in  the  Euphratean 
valley.  Himself  of  the  stock  of  Shem,  he  dwelt  in  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  a  city  in  whose  ruins,  now  known  by  the  name  of 
Mugheir,  Chaldean  inscriptions  have  been  found  of  a  date 
anterior  to  that  of  the  patriarch.  In  the  time  of  Abraham  a 
polytheistic  religion  already  existed  in  Ur,  for  we  are  told 
that  his  father  "served  other  gods."  Further,  the  legends  of 
the  creation  and  the  deluge,  and  the  antediluvian  age,  with 
the  history  of  Nimrod  and  other  postdiluvian  heroes,  existed 
in  a  written  form ;  and,  strange  though  this  may  seem,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  Abraham,  before  he  left  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  had  read  the  same  creation  legends  that  have  so 
recently  been  translated  and  published  by  Mr.  Smith.  But 
Abraham's  relation  to  these  was  of  a  peculiar  kind.  With  a 
spiritual  enlightenment  beyond  that  of  his  age,  he  dissented 
from  the  Turanian  animism  and  polytheism,  and  maintained 
that  pure  and  spiritual  monotheism  which,  according  to  the 
Bible,  had  been  the  original  faith  of  the  sons  of  Noah.  But 
he  was  overborne  by  the  tendencies  of  his  time,  and  probably 
by  the  ro3-al  and  priestly  influence  then  dominant  in  Chaldea, 
and  he  went  forth  from  his  native  land  in  search  of  a  country 
where  he  might  have  freedom  to  worship  God.  It  is  thus 
that  Abraham  appears  as  the  earliest  reformer,  the  first  of 

B 


26  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

those  martyrs  of  conscience  who  fear  not  to  differ  from  the 
majority,  the  father  and  prototype  of  the  faithful  of  every  age, 
and  the  earliest  apostle  of  the  monotheistic  faith  which  still 
reigns  among  all  the  higher  races  of  men. 

Did  Abraham  take  with  him  in  his  pilgrimage  the  records 
of  his  people  ?  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  doubt  that  he  did, 
and  this  probably  in  a  written  form,  but  purified  from  the 
polytheism  and  inane  imaginations  accreted  upon  them ;  or 
perhaps  he  had  access  to  still  older  and  more  primitive  rec- 
ords anterior  to  the  rise  of  the  Turanian  superstitions.  In 
any  case  we  may  safely  infer  that  Abraham  and  his  tribe 
carried  with  them  the  substance  of  all  that  part  of  Genesis 
which  contains  the  history  of  the  world  up  to  his  time,  and 
that  this  would  be  a  precious  heir-loom  of  his  family,  until  it 
was  edited  and  incorporated  in  the  Pentateuch  by  his  great 
descendant  Moses.  It  seems  plain,  therefore,  that  the  origi- 
nal prophet  or  seer  to  whom  the  narrative  of  creation  was 
revealed  lived  before  Abraham,  but  we  need  not  doubt  that 
the  latter  had  the  benefit  of  divine  guidance  in  his  noble 
stand  against  the  idolatry  of  his  age,  and  in  his  selection  of 
the  documents  on  which  his  own  theology  was  based.  These 
considerations  help  us  to  understand  the  persistence  of  He- 
brew monotheism  in  the  presence  of  the  idolatries  of  Canaan 
and  Eg3'pt,  since  these  were  closely  allied  to  the  Chaldean 
system  against  which  Abraham  had  protested.  They  also 
explain  the  recognition  by  Abraham,  as  co-religionists,  of 
such  monotheistic  personages  as  Melchisedec,  king  of  Salem. 
They  further  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  religious  basis  in  his 
people's  beliefs  on  which  Moses  had  to  work,  and  on  which 
he  founded  his  theocratic  system. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  I  would  observe  that 
the  view  above  given,  while  it  explains  the  agreement  be- 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solntions.        27 

tween  the  Hebrew  Genesis  and  other  ancient  rehgious  be- 
liefs, is  in  strict  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Genesis  it- 
self The  history  given  there  implies  monotheism  and  knowl- 
edge of  God  as  the  Creator  and  Redeemer,  in  antediluvian 
and  early  postdiluvian  times,  a  decadence  from  this  into  a  sys- 
tematic polytheism  at  a  very  early  date,  the  protest  and  dis- 
sent of  Abraham,  his  call  of  God  to  be  the  upholder  of  a  purer 
faith,  and  the  maintenance  of  that  faith  by  his  descendants. 
Besides  this,  any  careful  reader  of  Genesis  and  of  the  book  of 
Job,  which,  whatever  its  origin,  must  be  more  ancient  than  the 
Mosaic  law,  will  readily  discover  indications  that  Abraham 
and  the  patriarchs  were  in  the  possession  of  documents  and 
traditions  of  the  same  purport  with  those  in  the  early  chapters 
of  Genesis,  and  that  these  were  to  them  their  only  sacred  lit- 
erature. The  reader  of  the  Pentateuch  must  carry  this  idea 
with  him,  if  he  would  have  any  clear  conception  of  the  unity 
and  symmetry  of  these  remarkable  books. 

THE    MOSAIC    GENESIS. 

In  the  period  of  400  years  intervening  between  Abraham's 
departure  from  Ur  and  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  Egypt,  no 
great  prophetic  mind,  like  that  of  the  Father  of  the  Faithful, 
appeared  among  the  Hebrews.  But  then  arose  Moses,  the 
greatest  figure  in  all  antiquity  before  the  advent  of  Christ, 
and  who  was  destined  to  give  permanence  and  world-wide 
prevalence  to  the  faith  for  w^hich  Abraham  had  sacrificed  so 
much.  Under  the  leadership  of  Moses,  the  Abrahamidse, 
now  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  serf  population,  emanci- 
pated themselves  from  Egyptian  bondage,  and,  after  forty 
years  of  wandering  desert  life,  settled  themselves  permanent- 
ly on  the  hills  and  in  the  valleys  of  Palestine.  The  voice  of 
the  ruling  race,  indistinctly  conveyed  to  us  from  that  distant 


28  The  Origin  of  ike   World. 

antiquity,  maintains  that  the  fugitive  slaves  were  an  abject  and 
contemptible  herd ;  but  the  leader  of  the  exodus  informs  us 
that,  though  cruelly  trodden  down  by  a  haughty  despot,  they 
\vere  of  noble  parentage,  the  heirs  of  high  hopes  and  prom- 
ises. Their  migration  is  certainly  the  most  remarkable  nation- 
al movement  in  the  world's  history — remarkable,  not  merely 
in  its  events  and  immediate  circumstances,  but  in  its  remote 
political,  literary,  and  moral  results.  The  rulers  of  Egypt, 
polished,  enlightened,  and  practical  men,  were  yet  the  devo- 
tees of  a  complicated  system  of  hero  and  animal  worship,  like 
that  from  which  Abraham  dissented,  and  derived  in  great  part 
from  the  "  animism  "  which  caused  some  of  the  oldest  nations 
of  the  world  to  associate  a  spiritual  indwelling  with  the  natu- 
ral objects  surrounding  them  ;  or,  if  they  had  ceased  to  be- 
lieve in  this,  they  had  sunk  into  a  materialistic  devotion  to 
the  good  things  of  the  present  world,  combined  with  a  super- 
stitious belief  in  the  efficacy  of  priestly  absolution. 

The  slaves,  leaving  all  this  behind  them,  rose  in  their  relig- 
ious opinions  to  the  pure  and  spiritual  monotheism  of  the 
great  father  of  their  race  ;  and  their  leader  presented  to  them 
a  law  unequalled  up  to  our  time  in  its  union  of  justice,  patriot- 
ism, and  benevolence,  and  established  among  them,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  world's  history,  a  free  constitutional  republic. 
Nor  is  this  all ;  unexampled  though  such  results  are  elsewhere 
in  the  case  of  serfs  suddenly  emancipated.  The  Hebrew  law- 
giver has  interwoven  his  institutions  in  a  great  historical 
composition,  including  the  grand  and  simple  cosmogony  of 
the  patriarchs,  a  detailed  account  of  the  affiliation  and  ethno- 
logical relations  of  the  races  of  men,  and  a  narrative  of  the 
fortunes  of  his  own  people  ;  intimating  not  only  that  they 
were  a  favored  and  chosen  race,  but  that  of  them  was  to  arise 
a  great  Deliverer,  who  would  bless  all  nations  with  pardon 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        29 

and  with  peace,*  and  would  solve  once  for  all  those  great 
problems  of  the  relations  of  man  to  God  and  the  unseen 
world,  which  in  the  time  of  Moses  as  in  our  own  were  the 
most  momentous  of  all,  and  gave  to  questions  of  origins  all 
their  practical  value. 

The  lawgiver  passed  to  his  rest.  His  laws  and  literature, 
surviving  through  many  vicissitudes,  have  produced  in  each 
succeeding  age  a  new  harvest  of  poetry  and  history,  leaven- 
ed with  their  own  spirit.  In  the  mean  time  the  learning  and 
the  superstition  of  Egypt  faded  from  the  eyes  of  men.  The 
splendid  political  and  military  organizations  of  Assyria, 
Babylon,  Persia,  and  IMacedon  arose  and  crumbled  into 
dust.  The  wonderful  literature  of  Greece  blazed  forth  and 
expired.  That  of  Rome,  a  reflex  and  copy  of  the  former,  had 
reached  its  culminating  point ;  and  no  prophet  had  arisen 
among  any  of  these  Gentile  nations  to  teach  them  the  truth 
of  God.  The  world,  with  all  its  national  liberties  crushed 
out,  its  religion  and  its  philosophy  corrupted  and  enfeebled 
to  the  last  degree  by  an  endless  succession  of  borrowings 
and  intermixtures,  lay  prostrate  under  the  iron  heel  of  Rome. 
Then  appeared  among  the  now  obscure  remnant  of  Israel, 
one  who  announced  himself  as  the  Prophet  like  unto  Moses, 
promised  of  old  ;  but  a  prophet  whose  mission  it  was  to  re- 
deem not  Israel  only,  but  the  whole  world,  and  to  make  all 
who  will  believe,  children  of  faithful  Abraham.  Adopting  the 
whole  of  the  sacred  literature  of  the  Hebrews,  and  proving 
his  mission  by  its  words,  he  sent  forth  a  few  plain  men  to 

*  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  attach  any  value  to  the  doubts  of  cer- 
tain schools  of  criticism  as  to  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch. 
Whatever  quibbles  may  be  raised  on  isolated  texts,  no  rational  student 
can  doubt  that  we  have  in  these  books  a  collection  of  authentic  documents 
of  the  Exodus.     They  are  absolutely  inexplicable  on  any  other  supposition. 


30  TJie  Origin  of  the  World, 

write  its  closing  books,  and  to  plant  it  on  the  ruins  of  all  the 
time-honored  beliefs  of  the  nations — beliefs  supported  by  a 
splendid  and  highly  organized  priestly  system  and  by  despot- 
ic power,  and  gilded  by  all  the  highest  efforts  of  poetry  and 
art. 

The  story  is  a  very  familiar  one  ;  but  it  is  marvellous 
beyond  all  others.  Nor  is  the  modern  history  of  the  Bible 
less  wonderful.  Exhumed  from  the  rubbish  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  it  has  entered  on  a  new  career  of  victory.  It  has  stim- 
ulated the  mind  of  modern  Europe  to  all  its  highest  efforts, 
and  has  been  the  charter  of  its  civil  and  religious  liberties. 
Its  wondrous  revelation  of  all  that  man  most  desires  to  know, 
in  the  past,  in  the  present,  and  in  his  future  destinies,  has 
gone  home  to  the  hearts  of  men  in  all  ranks  of  society  and  in 
all  countries.  In  many  great  nations  it  is  the  only  rule  of 
religious  faith.  In  every  civilized  country  it  is  the  basis  of 
all  that  is  most  valuable  in  religion.  Where  it  has  been  with- 
held from  the  people,  civilization  in  its  highest  aspects  has 
languished,  and  superstition,  priestcraft,  and  tyranny  have 
held  their  ground  or  have  perished  under  the  assaults  of  a 
heartless  and  inhuman  infidelity.  Where  it  has  been  a  house- 
hold book,  education  has  necessarily  flourished,  liberty  has 
taken  root,  and  the  higher  nature  of  man  has  been  developed  to 
the  full.  Driven  from  many  other  countries  by  tyrannical  in- 
terference with  liberty  of  thought  and  discussion,  or  by  a  short- 
sighted ecclesiasticism,  it  has  taken  up  its  special  abode  with 
the  greatest  commercial  nations  of  our  time ;  and,  scattered 
by  their  agency  broadcast  over  the  world,  it  is  read  by  every 
nation  under  heaven  in  its  own  tongue,  and  is  slowly  but 
surely  preparing  the  way  for  wider  and  greater  changes  than 
any  that  have  heretofore  resulted  from  its  influence.  Ex- 
plain it  as  we  may,  the  Bible  is  a  great  literary  miracle  j  and 


TJie  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.       31 

no  amount  of  inspiration  or  authority  that  can  be  claimed  for 
it  is  more  strange  or  incredible  than  the  actual  history  of  the 
book.  Yet  no  book  has  ever  thrown  itself  into  so  decided 
antagonism  with  all  the  great  forces  of  evil  in  the  world. 
Tyranny  hates  it,  because  the  Bible  so  strongly  maintains  the 
individual  value  and  rights  of  man  as  man.  The  spirit  of 
caste  dislikes  it  for  the  same  reason.  Anarchical  license,  on 
the  other  hand,  finds  nothing  but  discouragement  in  it. 
Priestcraft  gnashes  its  teeth  at  it,  as  the  very  embodiment  of 
private  judgment  in  religion,  and  because  it  so  scornfully 
ignores  human  authority  in  matters  of  conscience,  and  human 
intervention  between  man  and  his  INIaker.  Skepticism  sneers 
at  it,  because  it  requires  faith  and  humility,  and  threatens 
ruin  to  the  unbeliever.  It  launches  its  thunders  against 
every  form  of  violence  or  fraud  or  allurement  that  seeks  to 
profit  by  wrong  or  to  pander  to  the  vices  of  mankind  ;  all 
these  consequently  are  its  foes.  On  the  other  hand,  by  its 
uncompromising  stand  with  reference  to  certain  scientific 
and  historical  facts,  it  has  appeared  to  oppose  the  progress 
of  thought  and  speculation  ;  though,  as  we  shall  see,  it  has 
been  unfairly  accused  in  this  last  respect. 

With  its  antagonism  to  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world  we 
have  at  present  nothing  to  do,  except  to  caution  the  student 
of  this  venerable  literature  against  the  prejudices  which 
interested  and  unscrupulous  foes  seek  to  cultivate.  Its 
doctrine  of  the  origin  of  man  and  of  the  world,  and  the  rela- 
tion of  this  to  modern  scientific  and  historical  results,  is  that 
which  now  claims  our  attention  ;  and  this  more  especially  in 
the  relation  which  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  considered  as  an 
early  revelation  from  God,  may  be  found  to  bear  to  the  facts 
which  modern  scientific  research  has  elicited  from  the  uni- 
verse itself.     The  aspects  in  which  apparent  conflicts  present 


32  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

themselves  are  threefold.  At  one  time  it  was  not  unusual  to 
impugn  the  historical  accuracy  of  the  Pentateuch  on  the 
evidence  of  the  Greek  historians ;  and  on  many  points 
scarcely  any  corroborative  evidence  could  be  cited  in  favor 
of  the  Hebrew  writers.  In  our  own  time  much  of  this  diffi- 
culty has  been  removed,  and  an  immense  amount  of  learned 
research  has  been  reduced  to  v;aste  paper,  by  the  circum- 
stance that  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria  have  risen 
up  to  bear  testimony  in  favor  of  the  Bible  ;  and  scarcely  any 
sane  man  now  doubts  the  value  of  the  Hebrew  history.  The 
battle-ground  has  in  consequence  been  shifted  farther  back, 
to  points  concerning  the  affiliation  of  the  races  of  men,  the 
absolute  antiquity  of  man's  residence  on  the  earth,  and  the 
condition  of  prehistoric  men  ;  questions  on  which  we  can 
scarcely  expect  to  find,  at  least  for  a  long  time,  any  de- 
cisive monumental  or  scientific  evidence.  Secondly,  the 
Bible  commits  itself  to  certain  cosmological  doctrines  and 
statements  respecting  the  system  of  nature,  and  details  of 
that  system,  more  or  less  approaching  to  the  domain  which 
geology  occupies  in  its  investigations  of  the  past  history  of 
the  earth  ;  and  at  every  stage  in  the  progress  of  modern 
science,  independently  of  the  mischief  done  by  smatterers  and 
skeptics,  earnest  bigotry  on  the  one  hand,  and  earnest  scien- 
tific enthusiasm  on  the  other,  have  come  into  collision.  One 
stumbling-block  after  another  has,  it  is  true,  been  removed 
by  mutual  concession  and  farther  enlightenment,  and  by  the 
removal  of  false  traditional  interpretations  of  the  sacred  rec- 
ords, as  well  as  by  farther  discoveries  in  relation  to  nature. 
But  the  field  of  conflict  has  thereby  apparently  only  changed ; 
and  we  still  have  some  Christians  in  consequence  regarding 
the  revelations  of  natural  science  with  suspicion,  and  some 
scientific  men  cherishing  a  sullen  resentment  against  what 


The  Mystery  of  Origins  and  its  Solutions.        33 

they  regard  as  an  intolerant  intermeddling  of  theology  with 
the  domain  of  legitimate  investigation.  Lastly,  the  great 
growth  of  physical  science,  and  the  tendency  to  take  partial 
views  of  the  universe  as  if  it  were  comprehended  in  mere 
matter  and  force,  with  similarly  partial  views  of  the  doctrines 
of  continuity  and  the  conservation  of  forces,  along  with  the 
growth  of  a  belief  in  spontaneous  evolution  as  a  philosophical 
dogma,  have  placed  many  scientific  minds  in  a  position  which 
makes  them  treat  the  whole  question  of  the  origin  and  des- 
tiny of  man  and  of  the  world  with  absolute  indifference. 

There  can  nevertheless  be  no  question  that  the  whole 
subject  is  at  the  present  moment  in  a  more  satisfactory  state 
than  ever  previously  ;  that  much  has  been  done  for  the  solu- 
tion of  difficulties  ;  that  many  theologians  admit  the  great 
service  which  in  many  cases  science  has  rendered  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  Bible,  and  that  most  naturalists  feel 
themselves  free  from  undue  trammels.  Above  all,  there  is 
a  very  general  disposition  to  admit  the  distinctness  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  fields  of  revelation  and  natural  science,  the 
possibility  of  their  arriving  at  some  of  the  same  truths,  though 
in  very  different  ways,  and  the  folly  of  expecting  them  fully 
and  manifestly  to  agree  in  the  present  state  of  our  informa- 
tion. The  literature  of  this  kind  of  natural  history  has  also 
become  very  extensive,  and  there  are  few  persons  who  do  not 
at  least  know  that  there  are  methods  of  reconciling  the  cos- 
mogony of  Moses  with  that  obtained  from  the  study  of  nature. 
For  this  very  reason  the  time  is  favorable  for  an  unprejudiced 
discussion  of  the  questions  involved  ;  and  for  presenting  on 
the  one  hand  to  naturalists  a  summary  of  what  the  Bible  does 
actually  teach  respecting  the  early  history  of  the  earth  and 
man,  and  on  the  other  to  those  whose  studies  lie  in  the  book 
which  they  regard  as  the  Word  of  God,  rather  than  in  the 

B2 


34  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

material  universe  which  they  regard  as  his  work,  a  view  of 
the  points  in  which  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  comes  into 
contact  with  natural  science  at  its  present  stage  of  progress. 
These  are  the  ends  which  I  propose  to  myself  in  the  follow- 
ing pages,  and  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  pursue  in  a  spirit  of 
fair  and  truthful  investigation  ;  having  regard  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  claims  and  influence  of  the  venerable  Book  of 
God,  and  on  the  other  to  the  rights  and  legitimate  results  of 
modern  scientific  inquiry. 

The  plan  which  I  have  proposed  to  myself  in  this  part  of 
my  subject  is  to  take  the  statements  of  Genesis  in  their  order, 
and  consider  what  they  import,  and  how  they  appear  to  har- 
monize with  what  we  know  from  other  sources.  This  will 
occupy  some  space,  but  it  will  save  time  in  dealing  with  the 
remaining  parts  of  the  subject.  Before  entering  upon  it,  I 
propose  to  devote  one  chapter  to  the  answers  to  three  ques- 
tions which  concern  the  whole  doctrine  of  revealed  religion, 
whether  Semitic,  Turanian,  or  Aryan.  These  are:  (i)  Why 
the  origin  of  things  should  be  revealed;  (2)  How  it  could  be 
revealed;  and  (3)  What  would  require  to  be  revealed  in  or- 
der to  form  the  basis  of  a  rational  theism. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.     35 


CHAPTER  II. 

OBJECTS  AND  NATURE  OF  A  REVELATION  OF  ORIGINS. 

"  There  are  two  books  from  which  I  collect  my  divinity ;  besides  that 
written  one  of  God,  another  of  his  servant  nature — that  universal  and  pub- 
lic manuscript  that  lies  expansed  unto  the  eyes  of  all." — Sir  T.  Browne. 

There  are  some  questions,  simple  enough  in  themselves, 
respecting  the  general  character  and  object  of  the  references 
to  nature  and  creation  in  the  Scriptures,  which  yet  are  so 
variously  and  vaguely  answered  that  they  deserve  some  con- 
sideration before  entering  on  the  detailed  study  of  the  sub- 
ject. These  are  :  (i)  The  object  of  the  introduction  of  such 
subjects  into  the  Hebrew  sacred  books — the  why  of  the  reve- 
lation of  origins.  (2)  The  origin,  character,  and  structure  of 
the  narrative  of  creation  and  other  cosmological  statements  in 
those  books — the  how  of  the  revelation.  (3)  The  character 
of  the  Biblical  cosmogony,  and  genei-al  views  of  nature  to 
which  it  leads — the  what  of  the  revelation. 

( I )  The  Object  of  the  Introduction  of  a  Cosmogony  in  the  Bible. 
— Man,  even  in  his  rudest  and  most  uncivilized  state,  does  not 
limit  his  mental  vision  to  his  daily  wants.  He  desires  to  live 
not  merely  in  the  present,  but  in  the  future  also  and  the  past. 
This  is  a  psychological  peculiarity  which,  as  much  as  any 
other,  marks  his  separation  from  the  lower  animals,  and  which 
in  his  utmost  degradation  he  never  wholly  loses.  Whatever 
may  be  fancied  as  to  imagined  prehistoric  nations,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  no  people  now  existing,  or  historically  known  to  us. 


36  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

is  so  rude  as  to  be  destitute  of  some  hopes  or  fears  in  refer- 
ence to  the  future,  some  traditions  as  to  the  distant  past. 
Every  religious  system  that  has  had  any  influence  over  the 
human  mind  has  included  such  ideas.  Nor  are  we  to  regard 
this  as  an  accident.  It  depends  on  fixed  principles  in  our 
constitution,  which  crave  as  their  proper  aliment  such  in- 
formation; and  if  it  can  not  be  obtained,  the  mind,  rather 
than  want  it,  invents  for  itself.  We  might  infer  from  this 
very  circumstance  that  a  true  religion,  emanating  from  the 
Creator,  would  supply  this  craving;  and  might  content  our- 
selves with  affirming  that,  on  this  ground  alone,  it  behooved 
revelation  to  have  a  cosmogony. 

But  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews  especially  required  to  be 
explicit  as  to  the  origin  of  the  earth  and  all  things  therein. 
Its  peculiar  dogma  is  that  of  one  only  God,  the  Creator,  re- 
quiring the  sole  homage  of  his  creatures.  The  heathen  for 
the  most  part  acknowledged  in  some  form  a  supreme  god, 
but  they  also  gave  divine  honors  to  subordinate  gods,  to  de- 
ceased ancestors  and  heroes,  and  to  natural  phenomena,  in 
such  a  manner  as  practically  to  obscure  their  ideas  of  the 
Creator,  or  altogether  to  set  aside  his  worship.  The  influ- 
ence of  such  idolatry  was  the  chief  antagonism  which  the 
Hebrew  monotheism  had  to  encounter;  and  we  learn  from 
the  history  of  the  nation  how  often  the  worshippers  of  Jehovah 
were  led  astray  by  its  allurements.  To  guard  against  this 
danger,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  no  place  should  be 
left  for  the  introduction  of  polytheism,  by  placing  the  whole 
work  of  creation  and  providence  under  the  sole  jurisdiction 
of  the  One  God.  Moses  consequently  takes  strong  ground 
on  these  points.  He  first  insists  on  the  creation  of  all  things 
by  the  fiat  of  the  Supreme.  Next  he  specifies  the  elaboration 
and  arrangement  of  all  the  powers  of  inanimate  nature,  and 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.     37 

the  introduction  of  every  form  of  organic  existence,  as  the 
work  of  the  same  First  Cause.  Lastly,  he  insists  on  the  cre- 
ation of  a  primal  human  pair,  and  on  the  descent  from  them 
of  all  the  branches  of  the  human  race,  including  of  course 
those  ancestors  and  magnates  who  up  to  his  time  had  been 
honored  with  apotheosis;  and  on  the  same  principle  he  ex- 
plains the  golden  age  of  Eden,  the  fall,  the  cherubic  emblems, 
the  deluge,  and  other  facts  in  human  history  interwoven  by 
the  heathen  with  their  idolatries.  He  thus  grasps  the  whole 
material  of  ancient  idolatry,  reduces  it  within  the  compass  of 
monotheism,  and  shows  its  relation  to  the  one  true  primitive 
religion,  which  was  that  not  only  of  the  Hebrews,  but  of 
right  that  of  the  whole  world,  whose  prevailing  polytheism 
consisted  in  perversions  of  its  truth  or  unity.  '  For  such  rea- 
sons the  early  chapters  of  Genesis  are  so  far  from  being  of 
the  character  of  digressions  from  the  scope  and  intention  of 
the  book,  that  they  form  a  substratum  of  doctrine  absolutely 
essential  to  the  Hebrew  faith,  and  equally  so  to  its  develop- 
ment in  Christianity. 

The  references  to  nature  in  the  Bible,  however,  and 
especially  in  its  poetical  books,  far  exceed  the  absolute  re- 
quirements of  the  reasons  above  stated  ;  and  this  leads  to 
another  and  very  interesting  view,  namely,  the  tendency  of 
monotheism  to  the  development  of  truthful  and  exalted  ideas 
of  nature.  The  Hebrew  theology  allowed  no  attempt  at  visi- 
ble representations  of  the  Creator  or  of  his  works  for  purposes 
of  worship.  It  thus  to  a  great  extent  prevented  that  connec- 
tion of  imitative  art  with  religion  which  flourished  in  heathen 
antiquity,  and  has  been  introduced  into  certain  forms  of 
Christianity.  But  it  cultivated  the  higher  arts  of  poetry  and 
song,  and  taught  them  to  draw  their  inspiration  from  nature 
as  the  only  visible  revelation  of  Deity.     Hence  the  growth 


38  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

of  a  healthy  "  physico-theology,"  excluding  all  idolatry  of 
natural  phenomena,  and  all  superstitious  dread  of  them  as 
independent  powers,  but  inviting  to  their  examination  as 
manifestations  of  God,  and  leading  to  conceptions  of  the 
unity  of  plan  in  the  cosmos,  of  which  polytheism,  even  in  its 
highest  literary  efforts,  was  quite  incapable.  In  the  same 
manner  the  Bible  has  always  proved  itself  an  active  stimulant 
of  natural  science,  connecting  such  studies,  as  it  does,  with 
our  higher  religious  sentiments  j  while  polytheism  and  ma- 
terialism have  acted  as  repressive  influences,  the  one  because 
it  obscures  the  unity  of  nature,  the  other  because,  in  robbing 
it  of  its  presiding  Divinity,  it  gives  a  cold  and  repulsive, 
corpse-like  aspect,  chilling  to  the  imagination,  and  incapable 
of  attracting  the  general  mind. 

Naturalists  should  not  forget  their  obligations  to  the  Bible 
in  this  respect,  and  should  on  this  very  ground  prefer  its 
teachings  to  those  of  modern  pantheism  and  positivism,  and 
still  more  to  those  of  mere  priestly  authority.  Very  few 
minds  are  content  with  simple  materialism,  and  those  who 
must  have  a  God,  if  they  do  not  recognize  the  Jehovah  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  as  the  Creator  and  Supreme  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  are  too  likely  to  seek  for  him  in  the  dimness  of 
human  authority  and  tradition,  or  of  pantheistic  philosophy ; 
both  of  them  more  akin  to  ancient  heathenism  than  to  modern 
civilization,  and  in  their  ultimate  tendencies,  if  not  in  their 
immediate  consequences,  quite  as  hostile  to  progress  in  sci- 
ence as  to  evangelical  Christianity. 

Every  student  of  human  nature  is  aware  of  the  influence 
in  favor  of  the  appreciation  of  natural  beauty  and  sublimity 
which  the  Bible  impresses  on  those  who  are  deeply  imbued 
with  its  teaching  ;  even  where  that  same  teaching  has  in- 
duced what  may  be  regarded  as  a  puritanical  dislike  of  imita- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.     39 

tive  art,  at  least  in  its  religious  aspects.  On  the  other  hand, 
naturalists  can  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  surpassing 
majesty  of  the  views  of  nature  presented  in  the  Bible.  No 
one  has  expressed  this  better  than  Humboldt :  "  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  poetry  of  the  Hebrews  that,  as  a.  reflex  of  mon- 
otheism, it  always  embraces  the  universe  in  its  unity,  com- 
prising both  terrestrial  life  and  the  luminous  realms  of  space; 
it  dwells  but  rarely  on  the  individuality  of  phenomena,  pre- 
ferring the  contemplation  of  great  masses.  The  Hebrew 
poet  does  not  depict  nature  as  a  self-dependent  object, 
glorious  in  its  individual  beauty,  but  always  as  in  relation  or 
subjection  to  a  higher  spiritual  power.  Nature  is  to  him  a 
work  of  creation  and  order — the  living  expression  of  the 
omnipresence  of  the  Divinity  in  the  visible  w^orld."  In  refer- 
ence to  the  104th  Psalm,  which  may  be  viewed  as  a  poetical 
version  of  the  narrative  of  creation  in  Genesis,  the  same 
great  writer  remarks :  "  We  are  astonished  to  find  in  a  lyr- 
ical poem  of  such  a  limited  compass,  the  whole  universe — the 
heavens  and  the  earth — sketched  with  a  few  bold  touches. 
The  calm  and  toilsome  life  of  man,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
to  the  setting  of  the  same,  when  his  daily  work  is  done,  is  here 
contrasted  with  the  moving  life  of  the  elements  of  nature. 
This  contrast  and  generalization  in  the  conception  of  the 
nmtual  action  of  natural  phenomena,  and  the  retrospection  of 
an  omnipresent  invisible  Power,  which  can  renew  the  earth  or 
crumble  it  to  dust,  constitute  a  solemn  and  exalted  rather  than 
a  gentle  form  of  poetic  creation."* 

If  we  admit  the  source  of  inspiration  claimed  by  the  He- 
brew poets,  we  shall  not  be  surprised  that  they  should  thus 
write  of  nature.     We  shall  only  lament  that  so  many  pious 

*  *'  Cosmos,"  Otte's  translation. 


40  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

and  learned  interpreters  of  Scripture  have  been  too  little  ac- 
quainted with  nature  to  appreciate  the  natural  history  of  the 
Book  of  God,  or  adequately  to  illustrate  it  to  those  who  de- 
pend on  their  teaching  ;  and  that  so  many  naturalists  have 
contented  themselves  with  wondering  at  the  large  general 
views  of  the  Hebrew  poets,  without  considering  that  they  are 
based  on  a  revelation  of  the  nature  and  order  of  the  creative 
work  which  supplied  to  the  Hebrew  mind  the  place  of  those 
geological  wonders  which  have  astonished  and  enlarged  the 
minds  of  modern  nations.  A  modern  divine,  himself  well 
read  in  nature,  truly  says  :  "  If  men  of  piety  were  also  men 
of  science,  and  if  men  of  science  were  to  read  the  Scriptures, 
there  would  be  more  faith  on  the  earth  and  also  more  phi- 
losophy."* In  a  similar  strain  the  patient  botanist  of  the 
marine  algce  thus  pleads  for  the  joint  claims  of  the  Bible  and 
nature  :  "  Unfortunately  it  happens  that  in  the  educational 
course  prescribed  to  our  divines  natural  history  has  no  place, 
for  which  reason  many  are  ignorant  of  the  important  bearings 
which  the  book  of  nature  has  on  the  book  of  revelation. 
They  do  not  consider,  apparently,  that  both  are  from  God — 
both  are  his  faithful  witnesses  to  mankind.  And  if  this  be  so, 
is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  either,  without  the  other,  can 
be  fully  understood  ?  It  is  only  necessary  to  glance  at  the 
absurd  commentaries  in  reference  to  natural  objects  which 
are  to  be  found  in  too  many  annotations  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures to  be  convinced  of  the  benefit  which  the  clergy  w^ould 
themselves  derive  from  a  more  extended  study  of  the  works 
of  creation.  And  to  missionaries  especially,  a  minute  famil- 
iarity with  natural  objects  must  be  a  powerful  assistance  in 
awakening  the  attention  of  the  savage,  who,  after  his  manner, 

*  Hamilton,  "  Royal  Preacher." 


Objects  ajid  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  41 

is  a  close  observer,  and  likely  to  detect  a  fallacy  in  his  teach- 
er, should  the  latter  attempt  a  practical  illustration  of  his  dis- 
course without  sufficient  knowledge.  These  are  not  days  in 
which  persons  who  ought  to  be  our  guides  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine can  afford  to  be  behind  the  rest  of  the  world  in  knowl- 
edge ;  nor  can  they  safely  sneer  at  the  knowledge  which  puff- 
eth  up,  until,  like  the  apostle,  they  have  sounded  its  depths 
and  proved  its  shallowness."*  It  is  truly  much  to  be  desired 
that  divines  and  commentators,  instead  of  trying  to  distort 
the  representations  of  nature  in  the  Bible  into  the  supposed 
requirements  of  a  barbarous  age,  or  of  setting  aside  modern 
discoveries  as  if  they  could  have  no  connection  with  Scrip- 
ture truth,  would  study  natural  objects  and  laws  sufficiently 
to  bring  themselves  in  this  respect  to  the  level  of  the  Hebrew 
writers.  Such  knowledge  would  be  cheaply  purchased  even 
by  the  sacrifice  of  a  part  of  their  verbal  and  literary  training. 
It  is  well  that  this  point  is  now  attracting  the  attention  of 
the  Christian  world,  and  it  is  but  just  to  admit  that  some  of 
our  more  eminent  religious  writers  have  produced  noble  ex- 
amples of  accurate  illustrations  of  Scripture  derived  from  nat- 
ure. In  any  case,  the  Bible  itself  can  not  be  charged  with 
any  neglect  of  the  claims  of  nature  or  with  any  narrow  tend- 
ency to  place  material  and  spiritual  things  in  antagonism  to 
one  another. 

Another  reason  why  a  revelation  from  God  must  deal  with 
the  origins  of  things,  is  that  such  revelation  is,  like  creation, 
in  its  own  nature  progressive.  It  is  given  little  by  little  to 
successive  generations  of  men,  and  must  proceed  from  the 
first  rudiments  of  religious  truth  onward  to  its  higher  devel- 
opments with  the  growth  of  humanity  from  age  to  age.    Hence 


*  Harvey,  "  Nereis  Boreali  Americana." 


42  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  teachings  in  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis  are  of  the  sim- 
plest and  most  child-like  character,  and  the  first  of  these  early 
teachings  is  necessarily  that  of  God  the  Creator,  just  as  our 
elementary  catechisms  for  children  have  been  wont  to  begin 
with  the  question, "  Who  made  you  ?"  In  this  way  man  is  led 
in  the  most  direct  and  simple  way  to  the  feet  of  the  Universal 
Father,  and  a  foundation  is  laid  whereon  further  religious 
teaching  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the  individual  mind  and 
to  the  growing  complications  of  human  society  can  be  built. 
But  again,  alike  in  the  earliest  and  simplest  as  in  the  more 
advanced  states  of  the  human  mind,  if  spiritual  things  are  to 
be  taught,  it  must  be  through  the  medium  of  material  things. 
We  have  no  language  to  express  in  any  direct  way  spiritual 
truths  ;  they  must  be  given  to  us  in  terms  of  the  natural.  W^e 
have  not  yet  learned  the  tongue  of  the  immortals,  and  proba- 
bly can  not  learn  it  in  this  world.  The  word  *'  spirit "  itself, 
which  we  borrow  from  the  Latin,  the  Greek  Fnejwia,  the  He- 
brew Ruahf  primarily  all  agree  in  signifying  breath  or  wind. 
We  have  to  speak  of  our  own  breath  when  we  mean  our 
spiritual  nature,  of  God's  breath  when  we  mean  his  spiritual 
nature,  and  so  of  all  other  things  not  obvious  to  our  senses. 
There  is  constant  danger  in  this  that  the  material  shall  be 
taken  for  the  spiritual  of  which  it  is  the  symbol,  the  figure 
for  the  reality,  the  creature  for  the  Creator,  and  this  danger  is 
best  counteracted  by  a  decided  testimony  in  relation  to  the 
origin  of  all  material  things  in  the  will  of  the  spiritual  and 
eternal  God.  Thus  the  Bible  writers  are  enabled  to  use  a 
free  and  bold  manner  of  speech  respecting  divine  things. 
Their  expressions  at  one  time  appear  pantheistic  and  at  an- 
other anthropomorphic;  they  see  God  in  every  thing,  and  use 
with  the  utmost  freedom  natural  emblems  to  indicate  his  per- 
fections and  procedure,  and  our  relations  to  him.    In  this  way 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  43 

there  is  life  and  action  in  their  teaching,  and  it  is  removed  as 
far  as  possible  from  a  dry,  abstract  theology,  while  equally  re- 
mote from  any  tinge  of  idolatry  or  superstition. 

It  may,  however,  be  objected  that  by  the  introduction  of  a 
cosmogony  the  Bible  exposes  itself  to  a  conflict  with  science, 
and  that  thereby  injury  results  both  to  science  and  to  religion. 
This  is  a  grave  charge,  and  one  that  has  evidently  had  much 
weight  with  many  minds,  since  it  has  been  the  subject  of  en- 
tire treatises  designed  to  illustrate  the  history  of  the  conflict 
or  to  explain  its  nature.  The  revelation  of  God's  will  to  man 
for  his  moral  guidance,  if  necessary  at  all,  was  necessary  be- 
fore the  rise  of  natural  science.  Men  could  not  do  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  unity  of  nature  and  of  the  unity  of  God, 
until  these  great  truths  could  be  worked  out  by  scientific  in- 
duction. Perhaps  they  might  never  have  been  so  worked 
out.  Therefore  a  revealed  book  of  origins  has  a  right  to 
precedence  in  this  matter.  Nor  need  it  in  any  way  come 
into  conflict  with  the  science  subsequently  to  grow  up.  Sci- 
ence does  not  deal  so  much  with  the  origin  of  nature  as  with 
its  method  and  laws,  and  all  that  is  necessary  on  the  part  of 
a  revelation,  to  avoid  conflict  with  it,  is  to  confine  itself  to 
statements  of  phenomena  and  to  avoid  hypotheses.  This  is 
eminently  the  course  of  the  Bible.  In  its  cosmogony  it  shuns 
all  embellishments  and  details,  and  contents  itself  with  the 
fact  of  creation  and  a  slight  sketch  of  its  order;  and  in  their 
subsequent  references  to  nature  the  sacred  writer*  are  strict- 
ly phenomenal  in  their  statements,  and  refer  every  thing  di- 
rectly to  the  will  of  God,  without  any  theory  as  to  secondary 
causes  and  relations.  They  are  thus  decided  and  positive 
on  the  points  with  reference  to  which  it  behooves  revelation 
to  testify,  and  absolutely  non-committal  on  the  points  which 
belong  to  the  exclusive  domain  of  science. 


44  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  say  of  the  imaginary  "  conflict  of  sci- 
ence with  religion,"  of  which  so  much  has  been  made  ?  Simply 
that  it  results  largely  from  misapprehension  and  from  misuse 
of  terms.  True  religion,  which  consists  in  practical  love  to 
God  and  to  our  fellow-men,  can  have  no  conflict  with  science. 
True  science  is  its  fast  ally.  The  Bible,  considered  as  a  rev- 
elation of  spiritual  truth  to  man  for  his  salvation  and  enlight- 
enment, can  have  no  conflict  with  science.  It  promotes  the 
study  of  nature,  rendering  it  honorable  by  giving  it  the  dig- 
nity of  an  inquiry  into  the  ways  of  God,  and  rendering  it  safe 
by  separating  it  from  all  ideas  of  magic  and  necromancy.  It 
gives  a  theological  basis  to  the  ideas  of  the  unity  of  nature 
and  of  natural  law.  The  conflict  of  science,  when  historical- 
ly analyzed,  is  found  to  have  been  fourfold — with  the  Church, 
with  theology,  with  superstition,  and  with  false  or  imperfect 
science  and  philosophy.  Religious  men  may  have  identi- 
fied themselves  from  time  to  time  with  these  opponents,  but 
that  is  all ;  and  much  more  frequently  the  opposition  has 
been  by  bad  men  more  or  less  professing  religious  objects. 
Organizations  calling  themselves  "  the  Church,"  and  whose 
warrant  from  the  Bible  is  often  of  the  slenderest,  have  de- 
nounced and  opposed  and  persecuted  new  scientific  truths  ; 
but  they  have  just  as  often  denounced  the  Bible  itself,  and 
religious  doctrines  founded  on  it.  Theology  claims  to  be  it- 
self one  of  the  sciences,  and  as  such  it  is  necessarily  imper- 
fect and  progressive,  and  may  at  any  time  be  more  or  less  in 
conflict  with  other  sciences  ;  but  theology  is  not  religion,  and 
may  often  have  very  little  in  common  either  with  true  religion 
or  the  Bible.  When  discussions  arise  between  theology  and 
other  sciences,  it  is  only  a  pity  that  either  side  should  indulge 
in  what  has  been  called  the  odium  theologicum^  but  which  is 
unfortunately  not  confined  to  divines.     Superstition,  consid- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origi)is.  45 

ered  as  the  unreasonable  fear  of  natural  agencies,  is  a  passive 
rather  than  an  active  opponent  of  science.  But  revelation, 
which  affirms  unity,  law,  and  a  Father's  hand  in  nature,  is  the 
deadly  foe  of  superstition,  and  no  people  who  have  been  read- 
ers of  the  Bible  and  imbued  with  its  spirit  have  ever  been  found 
ready  to  molest  or  persecute  science.  Work  of  this  sort  has 
been  done  only  by  the  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  priest-rid- 
den votaries  of  systems  which  withhold  the  Bible  from  the 
people,  and  detest  it  as  much  as  they  dislike  science.  Per- 
haps the  most  troublesome  opposition  to  science,  or  rather  to 
the  progress  of  science,  has  sprung  from  the  tenacity  with 
which  men  hold  to  old  ideas.  These,  which  may  have  been 
at  one  time  the  best  science  attainable,  root  themselves  in 
popular  literature,  and  even  in  learned  bodies  and  in  educa- 
tional books  and  institutions.  They  become  identified  with 
men's  conceptions  both  of  nature  and  religion,  and  modify 
their  interpretations  of  the  Bible  itself  It  thus  becomes  a 
most  difficult  matter  to  wrench  them  from  men's  minds,  and 
their  advocates  are  too  apt  to  invoke  in  their  defense  polit- 
ical, social,  and  ecclesiastical  powers,  and  to  seek  to  support 
them  by  the  authority  of  revelation,  when  this  may  perhaps 
be  quite  as  favorable  to  the  newer  views  opposed  to  them. 
All  these  conflicts  are,  however,  necessary  incidents  in  human 
progress,  which  comes  only  by  conflict ;  and  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  they  would  be  as  severe  in  the  absence  of  re- 
vealed religion  as  in  its  presence,  were  it  not  that  the  ab- 
sence of  revelation  seems  often  to  produce  a  fixity  and 
stagnation  of  thought  unfavorable  to  any  new  views,  and  con- 
sequently to  some  extent  to  any  intellectual  conflict.  It  has 
been,  indeed,  to  the  disinterment  of  the  Bible  in  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the  world  owes,  more  than  to 
any  other  cause,  the  immense  growth  of  modern  science,  and 


46  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

the  freedom  of  discussion  which  now  prevails.  The  Protest- 
ant idea  of  individual  judgment  in  matters  of  religion  is  thor- 
oughly Biblical,  for  the  Bible  everywhere  appeals  to  men  in 
this  way ;  and  this  idea  is  the  strongest  guarantee  that  the 
world  possesses  for  intellectual  liberty  in  other  matters. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  on  all  these  grounds,  that  it  was 
necessary  that  a  revelation  from  God  should  take  strong  and 
positive  ground  on  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  universe. 

(2)  The  Origin,  Ale t hod,  and  Sfnidure  of  the  Scriptural 
Cosfnogony.  —  A  respectable  physicist,  but  somewhat  shallow 
naturalist  and  theologian,  whose  works  at  one  time  attracted 
much  attention,  has  said  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis:  "  It 
can  not  be  history — it  may  be  poetry."  Its  claims  to  be  his- 
tory we  shall  investigate  under  another  head,  but  it  is  perti- 
nent to  our  present  inquiry  to  ask  whether  it  can  be  poetry. 
That  its  substance  or  matter  is  poetical  no  one  who  has  read 
it  once  can  believe;  but  it  can  not  be  denied  that  in  its  form 
it  approaches  somewhat  to  that  kind  of  thought-rhythm  or 
parallelism  w^hich  gives  so  peculiar  a  character  to  Hebrew 
poetry.  We  learn  from  many  Scripture  passages,  especially 
in  the  Proverbs,  that  this  poetical  parallelism  need  not  neces- 
sarily be  connected  with  poetical  thought;  that  in  truth  it 
might  be  used,  as  rhyme  is  sometimes  with  us,  to  aid  the 
memory.  The  oldest  acknowledged  verse  in  Scripture  is  a 
case  in  point.  Lamech,  who  lived  before  the  flood,  appears 
to  have  slain  a  man  in  self-defense,  or  at  least  in  an  encounter 
in  which  he  himself  was  wounded ;  and  he  attempts  to  define 
the  nature  of  the  crime  in  the  followins:  words  : 


'is 


"Adah  and  Zillah,  hear  my  voice; 
Ye  wives  of  Lamech,  hearken  to  my  speech  :- 
I  have  slain  a  man  to  my  wounding, 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  47 

And  a  young  man  to  my  hurt ; 

If  Cain  shall  be  avenged  sevenfold, 

Truly  Lamech  seventy  and  seven  fold." 

All  this  is  prosaic  enough  in  matter,  but  the  form  into  which 
it  is  thrown  gives  it  a  certain  dignity,  and  impresses  it  on  the 
memory;  which  last  object  was  probably  what  the  author  of 
this  sole  fragment  of  antediluvian  literature  had  in  view.  He 
succeeded  too — for  the  sentiment  was  handed  down,  probably 
orally;  and  IMoses  incorporates  it  in  his  narration,  perhaps 
on  account  of  its  interest  as  the  first  record  of  the  distinc- 
tion between  willful  murder  like  that  of  Cain,  and  justifiable 
homicide.  It  is  interesting  also  to  observe  the  same  parallel- 
ism of  style,  no  doubt  with  the  same  objects,  in  many  old 
Egyptian  monumental  inscriptions,  which,  however  grandilo- 
quent, are  scarcely  poetical*  It  also  appears  in  that  ancient 
record  of  creation  and  the  deluge  recently  rescued  from  the 
clay  tablets  of  Nineveh. 

Now  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  the  first  three 
verses  of  chapter  second,  being  the  formal  general  narrative 
of  creation,  on  which,  as  we  shall  see,  every  other  statement 
on  the  subject  in  the  Bible  is  based,  we  have  this  peculiar 
parallelism  of  style.  If  we  ask  why,  the  answer  must,  I 
think,  be — to  give  dignity  and  symmetry  to  what  would  other- 
wise be  a  dry  abstract,  and  still  more  to  aid  memory.  This 
last  consideration,  perhaps  indicating  that  this  chai^ter,  like 
the  apology  of  Lamech,  had  been  handed  down  orally  for  a 
long  period,  connects  itself  with  the  theory  of  the  pre-Abra- 
hamic  origin  of  these  documents  to  which  reference  has  al- 
ready been  made. 

The  form  of  the  narrative,  however,  in  no  way  impairs  its 

*  Osburn,  "  Monumental  History  of  Egypt." 


48  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

precision  or  accuracy  of  statement.  On  this  Eichhorn  well 
says :  "  There  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  first  chapter  a 
carefully  designed  plan,  all  whose  parts  are  carried  out  with 
much  art,  whereby  its  appropriate  place  is  assigned  to  every 
idea;"  and  we  may  add,  whereby  every  idea  is  expressed  in 
the  simplest  and  fewest  words,  yet  with  marvellous  accuracy, 
amounting  to  an  almost  scientific  precision  of  diction,  for 
which  both  the  form  into  which  it  is  thrown  and  the  homo- 
geneous and  simple  character  of  the  Hebrew  language  are 
very  w^ell  adapted.  Much  of  this  indeed  remains  in  the  En- 
glish version,  though  our  language  is  less  perfectly  suited 
than  the  Hebrew  for  the  concise  announcement  of  general 
truths  of  this  description.  Our  translators  have,  however, 
deviated  greatly  from  the  true  sense  of  many  important  words, 
especially  where  they  have  taken  the  Septuagint  translation 
for  their  guide,  as  in  the  words  "firmament,"  "whales," 
"  creeping  things,"  etc.  These  errors  will  be  noticed  in  sub- 
sequent pages.  In  the  mean  time  I  may  merely  add  that  the 
labors  of  the  ablest  Biblical  critics  give  us  every  reason  to 
conclude  that  the  received  text  of  Genesis  preserves,  almost 
without  an  iota  of  change,  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  its  first 
chapter;  and  that  we  now  have  it  in  a  more  perfect  state 
than  that  in  which  it  was  presented  to  the  translators  of  most 
of  the  early  versions.  It  must  also  be  admitted  that  the  ob- 
ject in  view  was  best  served  by  that  direct  reference  to  the 
creative  fiat,  and  ignoring  of  all  secondary  causes,  which  are 
conspicuous  in  this  narrative.  This  is  indeed  the  general 
tone  of  the  Bible  in  speaking  of  natural  phenomena;  and  this 
mode  of  proceeding  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  its  claims  to 
divine  authority.  Had  not  this  course  been  chosen,  no  other 
could  have  been  adopted,  in  strict  consistenc}^  with  truth, 
short  of  a  full  revelation  of  the  whole  system  of  nature,  in  the 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  49 

details  of  all  its  laws  and  processes.  This  we  now  know 
would  have  been  impossible,  and,  if  possible,  useless  or  even 
mischievous. 

Regarded  from  this  point  of  view — the  plenary  inspiration 
of  the  book — the  Scriptural  references  to  creation  profess  to 
furnish  a  very  general  outline,  for  theological  purposes,  of  the 
principal  features  of  a  vast  region  unexplored  when  they  were 
written,  and  into  which  human  research  has  yet  penetrated 
along  only  a  few  lines.  Natural  science,  in  following  out 
these  lines  of  observation,  has  reached  some  of  the  objects 
delineated  in  the  Scriptural  sketch ;  of  others  it  has  obtained 
distant  glimpses;  many  are  probably  unknown,  and  we  can 
appreciate  the  true  value  and  dimensions  relatively  to  the 
whole  of  very  few.  So  vast  indeed  are  the  subjects  of  the 
bold  sketch  of  the  Hebrew  prophet,  that  natural  science  can 
not  pretend  as  yet  so  to  fill  in  the  outline  as  quite  to  measure 
the  accuracy  of  its  proportions.  Yet  the  lines,  though  few, 
are  so  boldly  drawn,  and  with  so  much  apparent  unity  and 
symmetry,  that  we  almost  involuntarily  admit  that  they  are 
accurate  and  complete.  This  may  appear  to  be  underrating 
the  actual  progress  of  science  relatively  to  this  great  fore- 
shadowing outline ;  but  I  know  that  those  most  deeply  versed 
in  the  knowledge  of  nature  will  be  the  least  disposed  to  quar- 
rel with  it,  whatever  skepticism  they  may  entertain  as  to  the 
greater  general  completeness  of  the  inspired  record. 

Another  point  which  deserves  a  passing  notice  here  is  the 
theory  of  Dr.  Kurtz  and  others,  that  the  Mosaic  narrative 
represents  a  vision  of  creation,  analogous  to  those  prophetic 
visions  which  appear  in  the  later  books  of  Scripture.  This 
is  beyond  all  question  the  most  simple  and  probable  solution 
of  the  origin  of  the  document,  when  viewed  as  inspired,  but 
we  shall  have  to  recur  to  it  on  a  future  page. 

C 


50  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

But  with  respect  to  the  precise  origin  of  this  cosmogony, 
the  question  now  arises,  Is  it  really  in  substance  a  revelation 
from  God  to  man  ?  We  must  not  disguise  from  ourselves 
that  this  deliberate  statement  of  an  order  of  creation  in  so 
far  challenges  comparison  with  the  results  of  science,  and 
this  in  a  very  different  way  from  that  which  applies  to  the  in- 
cidental references  to  nature  in  the  Bible.  Further,  inasmuch 
as  it  relates  to  events  which  transpired  before  the  creation  of 
man,  it  is  of  the  nature  of  prophecy  rather  than  of  history. 
It  is,  in  short,  either  an  inspired  revelation  of  the  divine  pro- 
cedure in  creation,  or  it  is  a  product  of  human  imagination 
or  research,  or  a  deliberate  fraud. 

To  no  part  of  the  Bible  do  these  alternatives  more  strictly 
apply  than  to  its  first  chapter.  This  "can  not  be  history" 
in  the  strict  acceptation  of  the  term.  It  relates  to  events 
which  no  human  eye  witnessed,  respecting  which  no  human 
testimony  could  give  any  information.  It  represents  the  cre- 
ation of  man  as  the  last  of  a  long  series  of  events,  of  which  it 
professes  to  inform  us.  The  knowledge  of  these  events  can 
not  have  been  a  matter  of  human  experience.  If  at  all  en- 
titled to  confidence,  the  narrative  must,  therefore,  be  received 
as  an  inspired  document,  not  handed  down  by  any  doubtful 
tradition,  but  existing  as  originally  transfused  into  human 
language  from  the  mind  of  the  Author  of  nature  himself. 
This  view  is  in  no  way  affected  by  the  hypothesis,  already 
mentioned,  that  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis  were  compiled 
by  Moses  from  more  ancient  documents.  This  merely  throws 
back  the  revelation  to  a  higher  antiquity,  and  requires  us  to 
suppose  the  agency  of  two  inspired  men  instead  of  one. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  enter  into  any  argument 
for  the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  or  to  attempt  to  define  the 
nature  of  that  inspiration.     I  merely  wish  to  impress  on  the 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  5 1 

mind  of  the  reader  that  without  the  admission  of  its  reality, 
or  at  least  its  possibility,  our  present  inquiry  becomes  merely 
a  matter  of  curious  antiquarian  research.  AVe  must  also  on 
this  ground  distinguish  between  the  claims  of  the  Scriptures 
and  those  of  tradition  or  secular  history,  when  they  refer  to 
the  same  facts.  The  traditions  and  cosmogonies  of  some 
ancient  nations  have  many  features  in  common  with  the  Bible 
narrative ;  and,  on  the  supposition  that  Moses  compiled  from 
older  documents,  they  may  be  portions  of  this  more  ancient 
sacred  truth,  but  clothed  in  the  varied  garments  of  the  fanci- 
ful mythological  creeds  which  have  sprung  up  in  later  and 
more  degenerate  times.  Such  fragments  may  safely  be  re- 
ceived as  secondary  aids  to  the  understanding  of  the  authen- 
tic record,  but  it  would  be  folly  to  seek  in  them  for  the  whole 
truth.  They  are  but  the  scattered  masses  of  ore,  by  tracing 
which  we  may  sometimes  open  up  new  and  rich  portions  of 
the  vein  of  primitive  lore  from  which  they  have  been  derived. 
It  is,  however,  quite  necessary  here  formally  to  inquire  if 
there  are  any  hypotheses  short  of  that  of  plenary  inspiration 
which  may  allow  us  to  attach  any  value  whatever  to  this  most 
ancient  document.  I  know  but  two  views  of  this  kind  that 
are  worthy  of  any  attention. 

1.  The  Mosaic  account  of  creation  may  be  a  result  of  an- 
cient scientific  inquiries,  analogous  to  those  of  modern  geol- 
ogy- 

2.  It  may  be  an  allegorical  or  poetical  mythus,  not  intend- 
ed to  be  historical,  but  either  devised  for  some  extraneous 
purpose,  or  consisting  of  the  conjectures  of  some  gifted  in- 
tellect. 

These  alternatives  we  may  shortly  consider,  though  the 
materials  for  their  full  discussion  can  be  furnished  only  by 
facts  to  be  subsequently  stated.     I  am  not  aware  that  the 


52  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

first  of  these  views  has  been  maintained  by  any  modern 
writer.  Some  eminent  scientific  men  are,  however,  disposed 
to  adopt  such  an  explanation  of  the  ancient  Hindoo  hymns, 
as  well  as  of  the  cosmogony  of  Pythagoras,  which  bears  evi- 
dence of  this  origin ;  and  it  may  be  an  easy  step  to  infer  that 
the  Hebrew  cosmogony  was  derived  from  some  similar  source. 
Not  many  years  ago  such  a  supposition  would  have  been  re- 
garded as  almost  insane.  Then  the  science  of  antiquity  was 
only  another  name  for  the  philosophy  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
But  in  recent  times  we  have  seen  Egypt  disclose  the  ruins  of 
a  mighty  civilization,  more  grand  and  massive  though  less 
elegant  than  that  of  Greece,  and  which  had  reached  its  acme 
ere  Greece  had  received  its  alphabet — a  civilization  which, 
according  to  the  Scripture  history,  is  derived  from  that  of  the 
primeval  Cushite  empire,  which  extended  from  the  plains  of 
Shinar  over  all  Southeastern  Asia,  but  was  crushed  at  its 
centre  before  the  dawn  of  secular  history.  We  have  now 
little  reason  to  doubt  that  Moses,  when  he  studied  the  learn- 
ing of  Egypt,  held  converse  with  men  who  saw  more  clearly 
and  deeply  into  nature's  mysteries  than  did  Thales  or  Py- 
thagoras, or  even  Aristotle.*     Still  later  the  remnants  of  old 

*  On  this  subject  I  may  refer  naturalists  to  the  intimate  acquaintance 
with  animals  and  their  habits,  indicated  by  the  manner  of  their  use  as  sa- 
cred emblems,  and  as  symbols  in  hieroglyphic  writing.  Another  illustra- 
tion is  afforded  by  the  Mosaic  narrative  of  the  miracles  and  plagues  con- 
nected with  the  exodus.  The  Egyptian  king,  on  this  occasion,  consulted 
the  philosophers  and  migtirs.  These  learned  men  evidently  regarded  the 
serpent-rod  miracle  as  but  a  more  skilful  form  of  one  of  the  tricks  of  ser- 
pent-charmers. They  showed  Pharaoh  the  possibility  of  reddening  the 
Nile  water  by  artificial  means,  or  perhaps  by  the  development  of  red  al- 
gae in  it.  They  explained  the  inroad  of  frogs  on  natural  principles,  prob- 
ably referring  to  the  immense  abundance  ordinarily  of  the  ova  and  tadpoles 
of  these  creatures  compared  with  that  of  the  adults.  But  when  the  dust 
of  the  land  became  gnats  ("  lice"  in  our  version),  this  was  a  phenomenon 
beyond  their  experience.     Either  the  species  was  unknown  to  them,  or  its 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  5 


'V 


Nineveh  have  been  exhumed  from  their  long  sepulture,  and 
antiquaries  have  been  astonished  by  the  discovery  that  knowl- 
edge and  arts,  supposed  to  belong  exclusively  to  far  more  re- 
cent times,  were  in  the  days  of  the  early  Hebrew  kings,  and 
probably  very  long  previously,  firmly  established  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tigris.  Such  discoveries,  when  compared  with  hints 
furnished  by  the  Scriptures,  tend  greatly  to  exalt  our  ideas  of 
the  state  of  civilization  at  the  time  when  they  were  written ; 
and  we  shall  perceive,  in  the  course  of  our  inquiry,  many  ad- 
ditional reasons  for  believing  that  the  ancient  Israelites  were 
much  farther  advanced  in  natural  science  than  is  commonly 
supposed. 

We  have,  however,  no  positive  proof  of  such  a  theory,  and 
it  is  subject  to  many  grave  objections.  The  narrative  itself 
makes  no  pretension  to  a  scientific  origin,  it  quotes  no  au- 
thority, and  it  is  connected  with  no  philosophical  speculations 
or  deductions.  It  bears  no  internal  evidence  of  havins:  been 
the  result  of  inductive  inquiry,  but  appeals  at  once  to  faith  in 
the  truth  of  the  great  ultimate  doctrine  of  absolute  creation, 
and  then  proceeds  to  detail  the  steps  of  the  process,  in  the 
manner  of  history  as  recorded  by  a  witness,  and  not  in  the 
manner  of  science  tracing  back  effects  to  their  causes.  Far- 
ther, it  refers  to  conditions  of  our  planet  respecting  which 
science  has  even  now  attained  to  no  conclusions  supported 
by  evidence,  and  is  not  in  a  position  to  make  dogmatic  as- 
sertions.    The  tone  of  all  the  ancient  cosmogonies  has  in 

production  out  of  the  dry  ground  was  an  anomaly,  or  they  knew  that  no 
larvae  adequate  to  explain  it  had  previously  existed.  In  the  case  of  this 
plague,  therefore,  comparatively  insignificant  and  easily  simulated,  they 
honestly  confessed — "This  is  the  finger  of  God."  No  better  evidence 
could  be  desired  that  the  savans  here  opposed  to  Moses  were  men  of 
high  character  and  extensive  observation.  Many  other  facts  of  similar 
tendency  might  be  cited  both  from  Moses  and  the  Egyptian  monuments. 


54  Ti^'^  Origin  of  the  World, 

these  respects  a  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
bears  testimony  to  a  general  impression  pervading  the  mind 
of  antiquity  that  there  was  a  divine  and  authoritative  testi- 
mony to  the  facts  of  creation,  distinct  from  histor}-,  philosoph- 
ical speculation,  or  induction. 

One  of  the  boldest  and  simplest  methods  of  this  kind  is 
that  followed  by  the  authors  of  the  "  Types  of  2vlankind,"  in 
the  attempt  to  assign  a  purely  human  origin  to  Genesis  ist. 
These  writers  admit  the  greater  antiquity  of  the  first  chapter, 
though  assigning  the  whole  of  the  book  to  a  comparatively 
modern  date.     They  say: 

"The  'document  Jehovah'*  does  not  especially  concern 
our  present  subject;  and  it  is  incomparable  with  the  grander 
conception  of  the  more  ancient  and  unknown  writer  of  Gene- 
sis I  St.  With  extreme  felicity  of  diction  and  conciseness  of 
plan,  the  latter  has  defined  the  most  philosophical  views  of 
antiquity  upon  cosmogony ;  in  fact  so  well  that  it  has  required 
the  palaeontological  discoveries  of  the  nineteenth  century — at 
least  2500  years  after  his  death — to  overthrow  his  septenary 
arrangement  of  '  Creation ;'  which,  after  all,  would  still  be 
correct  enough  in  great  principles,  were  it  not  for  one  indi- 
vidual oversight  and  one  unlucky  blunder;  not  exposed,  how- 
ever, until  long  after  his  era,  by  post-Copernican  astronomy. 
The  oversight  is  where  he  wrote  (Gen.  i.  6-8),  '  Let  there  be 
raquie,''  i.e.,  2i  firmament ;  which  proves  that  his  notions  of 
*sky'  (solid  like  the  concavit}-  of  a  copper  basin,  with  stars 
set  as  brilliants  in  the  metal)  were  the  same  as  those  of  ad- 
jacent people  of  his  time — indeed,  of  all  men  before  the  pub- 
lication of  Newton's  'Principia'  and  of  Laplace's  '  Mecanique 
Ce'leste.'    The  blunder  is  where  he  conceives  that  aur, '  light,' 


That  in  Genesis,  chap.  ii. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins. 


i)D 


and  iojn^  May*  (Gen.  i.  14-18),  could  have  been  physically 
possible  three  whole  days  before  the  'two  great  luminaries,' 
Sun  and  Moon,  \Yere  created.  These  venial  errors  deducted, 
his  majestic  song  beautifully  illustrates  the  simple  process  of 
ratiocination  through  which — often  without  the  slightest  his- 
torical proof  of  intercourse — different  '  T3-pes  of  Mankind,'  at 
distinct  epochas,  and  in  countries  widely  apart,  had  arrived, 
naturally,  at  cosmogonic  conclusions  similar  to  the  doctrines 
of  that  Hebraical  school  of  which  his  harmonic  and  melodi- 
ous numbers  remain  a  magnificent  memento. 

"  That  process  seems  to  have  been  the  following  :  The  an- 
cients knew,  as  we  do,  that  man  is  upon  the  earth  ;  and  they 
were  persuaded,  as  we  are,  that  his  appearance  was  preceded 
by  unfathomable  depths  of  time.  Unable  (as  we  are  still)  to 
measure  periods  antecedent  to  man  by  any  chronological si2Lnd- 
ard,  the  ancients  rationally  reached  the  tabulation  of  some 
events  anterior  to  man  through  induction — a  method  not  orig- 
inal with  Lord  Bacon,  because  known  to  St.  Paul ;  *  for  his 
unseen  things  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  his  power  and 
Godhead,  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that 
are  made'  (Rom.  i.,  20).  Man,  they  felt,  could  not  have 
lived  upon  earth  without  animal  food  ;  ergo,  *  cattle '  pre- 
ceded him,  together  with  birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  etc.  Noth- 
ing living,  they  knew,  could  have  existed  without  light  and 
heat ;  ergo,  the  solar  system  antedated  animal  life,  no  less 
than  the  legetation  indispensable  for  animal  support.  But 
terrestrial  plants  can  not  grow  without  earth;  ergo,  that  dr}' 
land  had  to  be  separated  from  pre-existent  'waters.'  Their 
geological  speculations  inclining  rather  to  the  XcptuniaJi  than 
to  the  Plutonian  theor}- — for  Werner  ever  preceded  Hutton — 
the  ancients  found  it  difficult  to  'divide  the  waters  from  the 
waters '  without  interposing  a  metallic  substance  that'di\ided 


56  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  waters  which  were  tmder  the  firmament  from  the  waters 
that  were  above  the  firmament  j'  so  they  inferred,  logically, 
that  2.  firmament  must  have  been  actually  created  for  this  ob- 
ject. \E.g., '  The  windows  of  the  skies  '  (Gen.  vii.,  11) ;  '  the 
waters  above  the  skies '  (Psa.  cxlviii.,  4).]  Before  the  'waters  ' 
(and  here  is  the  peculiar  error  of  the  genesiacal  bard)  some 
of  the  ancients  claimed  the  pre-existence  of  light  (a  view 
adopted  by  the  writer  of  Genesis  ist) ;  while  others  asserted 
that  '  chaos  '  prevailed.  Both  schools  united,  however,  in  the 
conviction  that  darkness — Erebus — anteceded  all  other  C7'e- 
ated  thifigs.  What,  said  these  ancients,  can  have  existed  be- 
fore the  '  darkness  ?'  £ns  entiiun,  the  Creator,  was  the 
humbled  reply.  Elohi?n  is  the  Hebrew  vocal  expression  of 
that  climax ;  to  define  whose  attributes,  save  through  the 
phenomena  of  creation,  is  an  attempt  we  leave  to  others  more 
presumptuous  than  ourselves." 

The  problem  here  set  to  the  "  unknown  "  author  of  Gene- 
sis is  a  hard  one — given  the  one  fact  that  "  man  is  "  to  find 
in  detail  how  the  world  was  formed  in  a  series  of  preceding 
ages  of  vast  duration.  Is  it  possible  that  such  a  problem 
could  have  been  so  worked  out  as  to  have  endured  the  test 
of  three  thousand  years,  and  the  scrutiny  of  modern  science  ? 
But  there  is  an  "oversight"  in  one  detail,  and  a  "blunder" 
in  another.  By  reference  farther  on,  the  reader  will  find  un- 
der the  chapters  on  "Light"  and  the  "Atmosphere"  that  the 
oversight  and  blunder  are  those  not  of  the  writer  of  Genesis, 
but  of  the  learned  American  ethnologists  in  the  nineteenth 
century ;  a  circumstance  which  cuts  in  two  ways  in  defense 
of  the  ancient  author  so  unhappily  unknown  to  his  modern 
critics. 

The  second  of  the  alternatives  above  referred  to,  the  myth- 
ical hypothesis,  has  been  advanced  and  ably  supported,  es- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  57 

pecially  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  by  such  English 
writers  as  are  disposed  to  apply  the  methods  of  modern 
rationalistic  criticism  to  the  Bible.  In  one  of  its  least  ob- 
jectionable forms  it  is  thus  stated  by  Professor  Powell : 

"  The  narrative,  then,  of  six  periods  of  creation,  followed  by 
a  seventh  similar  period  of  rest  and  blessing,  was  clearly  de- 
signed by  adaptation  to  their  conceptions  to  enforce  upon  the 
Israelites  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath;  and  in  whatever  way 
its  details  may  be  interpreted,  it  can  not  be  regarded  as  an 
historical  statement  of  the  primeval  institution  of  a  Sabbath ; 
a  supposition  which  is  indeed  on  other  grounds  sufficiently 
improbable,  though  often  adopted.  *  *  =*  If^  then,  we  would 
avoid  the  alternative  of  being  compelled  to  admit  what  must 
amount  to  impugning  the  truth  of  those  portions  at  least  of 
the  Old  Testament,  we  surely  are  bound  to  give  fair  consider- 
ation to  the  only  suggestion  which  can  set  us  entirely  free 
from  all  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  geological  contra- 
diction which  does  and  must  exist  against  any  conceivable 
interpretation  which  retains  the  assertion  of  the  historical 
character  of  the  details  of  the  narrative,  as  referring  to  the 
distinct  transactions  of  each  of  the  seven  periods.  *  *  *  The 
one  great  fact  couched  in  the  general  assertion  that  all  things 
were  created  by  the  sole  power  of  one  Supreme  Being  is  the 
whole  of  the  representation  to  which  an  historical  character 
can  be  assigned.  As  to  the  particular  form  in  which  the  de- 
scriptive narrative  is  conveyed,  we  merely  affirm  that  it  can 
not  be  history — it  may  be  poetry."* 

The  general  ground  on  which  this  view  is  entertained  is 
the  supposed  irreconcilable  contradiction  between  the  literal 
interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  record  and  the  facts  of  geology. 

*  Kitto's  Cyclopaedia,  art.  "  Creation." 

C   2 


58  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

The  real  amount  of  this  difficulty  we  are  not,  in  the  present 
stage  of  our  inquiry,  prepared  to  estimate.  We  can,  however, 
readily  understand  that  the  hypothesis  depends  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  narrative  of  creation  is  posterior  in  date  to 
the  Mosaic  ritual,  and  that  this  plain  and  circumstantial  series 
of  statements  is  a  fable  designed  to  support  the  Sabbatical 
institution,  instead  of  the  rite  being,  as  represented  in  the 
Bible  itself,  a  commemoration  of  the  previously  recorded  fact. 
This  is,  fortunately,  a  gratuitous  assumption,  contrary  to  the 
probable  date  of  the  documents,  as  deduced  from  internal 
evidence  and  from  comparison  with  the  Assyrian  and  other 
cosmogonies  ;  and  it  also  completely  ignores  the  other  mani- 
fest uses  mentioned  under  our  first  head.  If  proved,  it  would 
give  to  the  whole  the  character  of  a  pious  fraud,  and  would 
obviously  render  any  comparison  with  the  geological  history 
of  the  earth  altogether  unnecessary.  While,  therefore,  it 
must  be  freely  admitted  that  the  Mosaic  narrative  can  not 
be  history,  in  so  far  at  least  as  history  is  a  product  of  human 
experience,  we  can  not  admit  that  it  is  a  poetical  mythus,  or, 
in  other  words,  that  it  is  destitute  of  substantial  truth,  unless 
proved  by  good  evidence  to  be  so  ;  and,  when  this  is  proved, 
we  must  also  admit  that  it  is  quite  undeserving  of  the  credit 
which  it  claims  as  a  revelation  from  God. 

Since,  therefore,  the  events  recorded  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  were  not  witnessed  by  man ;  since  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  they  were  discovered  by  scientific  inquiry ; 
and  since,  if  true,  they  can  not  be  a  poetical  myth,  we  must, 
in  the  mean  time,  return  to  our  former  supposition  that  the 
Mosaic  cosmogony  is  a  direct  revelation  from  the  Creator. 
In  this  respect,  the  position  of  this  part  of  the  earth's  Biblical 
history  resembles  that  of  prophecy.  Writers  may  accurately 
relate  contemporary  events,  or  those  which  belong  to  the  hu- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.   59 

man  period,  without  inspiration  ;  but  the  moment  that  they 
profess  accurately  to  foretell  the  history  of  the  future,  or  to 
inform  us  of  events  which  preceded  the  human  period,  we 
must  either  believe  them  to  be  inspired,  or  reject  them  as 
impostors  or  fanatics.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
find  intermediate  standing -ground,  but  it  is  so  precarious 
that  the  nicest  of  our  modern  critical  balancers  have  been 
unable  to  maintain  themselves  upon  it. 

Having  thus  determined  that  the  Mosaic  cosmogony,  in  its 
grand  general  features,  must  either  be  inspired  or  worthless, 
we  have  further  to  inquire  to  what  extent  it  is  necessary  to 
suppose  that  the  particular  details  and  mode  of  expression 
of  the  narrative,  and  the  subsequent  allusions  to  nature  in 
the  Bible,  must  be  regarded  as  entitled  to  this  position.  We 
may  conceive  them  to  have  been  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
writers  ;  and,  in  that  case,  they  will  merely  represent  the 
knowledge  of  nature  actually  existing  at  the  time.  On  the 
other  hand,  their  accuracy  may  have  been  secured  by  the  di- 
vine afflatus.  Few  modern  writers  have  been  disposed  to  in- 
sist on  the  latter  alternative,  and  have  rather  assumed  that 
these  references  and  details  are  accommodated  to  the  state 
of  knowledge  at  the  time.  I  must  observe  here,  however, 
that  a  careful  consideration  of  the  facts  gives  to  a  naturalist 
a  much  higher  estimate  of  the  real  value  of  the  observations 
of  nature  embodied  in  the  Scriptures  than  that  which  divines 
have  ordinarily  entertained;  and,  consequently,  that  if  we  sup- 
pose them  of  human  origin,  we  must  be  prepared  to  modify 
the  views  generally  entertained  of  early  Oriental  simplicity 
and  ignorance.  The  truth  is,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
difficulties  in  Scriptural  natural  history  appear  to  have  arisen 
from  want  of  such  accommodation  to  the  -low  state  of  the 
knowledge  of  nature  among  translators  and  expositors;  and 


6o  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 

this  is  precisely  what  we  should  expect  in  a  veritable  revela- 
tion. Its  moral  and  religious  doctrines  were  slowly  devel- 
oped, each  new  light  illuminating  previous  obscurities.  Its 
human  history  comes  out  as  evidence  of  its  truth,  when  com- 
pared with  monumental  inscriptions  \  and  why  should  not 
the  All-wise  have  constructed  as  skilfully  its  teachings  re- 
specting his  own  works?  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever 
that  the  Scripture  writers  intended  to  address  themselves  to 
the  common  mind,  which  now  as  then  requires  simple  and 
popular  teaching,  but  they  w^ere  under  obligation  to  give 
truthful  statements ;  and  we  need  not  hesitate  to  say,  with 
Dr.  Chalmers,  in  reference  to  a  book  making  such  claims  as 
those  of  the  Bible  :  "  There  is  no  argument,  saving  that 
grounded  on  the  usages  of  popular  language,  which  would 
tempt  us  to  meddle  with  the  literalities  of  that  ancient  and, 
as  appears  to  us,  authoritative  document,  any  farther  than 
may  be  required  by  those  conventionalities  of  speech  which 
spring  from  'optical'  impressions  of  nature."^ 

Attempt  as  we  may  to  disguise  it,  any  other  view  is  totally 
unworthy  of  the  great  Ruler  of  the  universe,  especially  in  a 
document  characterized  as  emphatically  the  truth,  and  in  a 

*  Much  that  is  very  silly  has  been  written  as  to  the  extent  of  the  sup- 
posed "  optical  view"  taken  by  the  Hebrew  writers  ;  many  worthy  liter- 
ary men  appearing  to  suppose  that  scientific  views  of  nature  must  neces- 
sarily be  different  from  those  which  we  obtain  by  the  evidence  of  our 
senses.  The  very  contrary  is  the  fact ;  and  so  long  as  any  writers  state 
correctly  what  they  observe,  without  insisting  on  any  fanciful  hypotheses, 
science  has  no  fault  to  find  with  them.  What  science  most  detests  is  the 
ignorant  speculations  of  those  who  have  not  observed  at  all,  or  have  ob- 
served imperfectly.  It  is  a  leading  excellence  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
that  they  state  facts  without  giving  any  theories  to  account  for  them.  It  is, 
on  the  contrary,  the  circumstance  that  unscientific  writers  will  not  be  con- 
tent to  be  "optical,"  but  must  theorize,  that  spoils  much  of  our  modern 
literature,  especially  in  its  descriptions  of  nature. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  6i 

moral  revelation,  in  which  statements  respecting  natural 
objects  need  not  be  inserted,  unless  they  could  be  rendered 
at  once  truthful  and  illustrative  of  the  higher  objects  of  the 
revelation.  The  statement  often  so  flippantly  made  that  the 
Bible  was  not  intended  to  teach  natural  history  has  no  appli- 
cation here.  Spiritual  truths  are  no  doubt  shadowed  forth  in 
the  Bible  by  material  emblems,  often  but  rudely  resembling 
them,  because  the  nature  of  human  thought  and  language 
render  this  necessary,  not  only  to  the  unlearned,  but  in  some 
degree  to  all  ;  but  this  principle  of  adaptation  can  not  be 
applied  to  plain  material  facts.  Yet  a  confusion  of  these  two 
very  distinct  cases  appears  to  prevail  almost  unaccountably 
in  the  minds  of  many  expositors.  They  tell  us  that  the 
Scriptures  ascribe  bodily  members  to  the  immaterial  God, 
and  typify  his  spiritual  procedure  by  outward  emblems  ;  and 
this  they  think  analogous  to  such  doctrines  as  a  solid  firma- 
ment, a  plane  earth,  and  others  of  a  like  nature,  which  they 
ascribe  to  the  sacred  writers.  We  shall  find  that  the  writers 
of  the  Scriptures  had  themselves  much  clearer  views,  and 
that,  even  in  poetical  language,  they  take  no  such  liberties 
with  truth. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  extent  to  which  this  doctrine  of 
"  accommodation  "  carries  us  beyond  the  limits  of  fair  interpre- 
tation, I  cite  the  following  passage  from  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  judicious  writers  on  the  subject  :*  "It  was  the  opinion 
of  the  ancients  that  the  earth,  at  a  certain  height,  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  transparent  hollow  sphere  of  solid  matter,  which 
they  called  the  firmament.  When  rain  descended,  they  sup- 
posed that  it  was  through  windows  or  holes  made  in  the 
crystalline    curtain    suspended    in    mid-heavens.     To   these 

*  Prof.  Hitchcock. 


62  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

notions  the  language  of  the  Bible  is  frequently  conformed. 
*  =*  *  But  the  most  decisive  example  I  have  to  give  on  this 
subject  is  derived  from  astronomy.  Until  the  time  of  Coper- 
nicus no  opinion  respecting  natural  phenomena  was  thought 
better  established  than  that  the  earth  is  fixed  immovably  in 
the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  that  the  heavenly  bodies  move 
diurnally  round  it.  To  sustain  this  view  the  most  decisive 
language  of  Scripture  might  be  quoted.  God  is  there  said  to 
have  ''  established  the  fowidatiojis  of  the  earthy  so  that  they  could 
not  he  7-emoved  forever  /'  and  the  sacred  writers  expressly  de- 
clare that  the  heavenly  bodies  arise  and  set^  and  nowhere  al- 
lude to  any  proper  motion  of  the  earth." 

Will  it  be  believed  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  poetical 
expression,  "  windows  of  heaven,"  and  the  common  forms  of 
speech  relating  to  sunrise  and  sunset,  the  above  "decisive" 
instances  of  accommodation  have  no  foundation  whatever  in 
the  language  of  Scripture.  The  doctrine  of  the  rotation  of 
solid  celestial  spheres  around  the  earth  belongs  to  a  Greek 
philosophy  which  arose  after  the  Hebrew  cosmogony  was 
complete  ;  and  though  it  occurs  in  the  Septuagint  and  other 
ancient  versions,  it  is  not  based  on  the  Hebrew  original.  In 
truth,  we  know  that  those  Grecian  philosophers — of  the  Ionic 
and  Pythagorean  schools — who  lived  nearest  the  times  of  the 
Hebrew  writers,  and  who  derived  the  elements  of  their 
science  from  Egypt  and  Western  Asia,  taught  very  different 
doctrines.  How  absurd,  then,  is  it  thus  to  fasten  upon  the 
sacred  writers,  contrary  to  their  own  words,  the  views  of  a 
school  of  astronomy  which  probably  arose  long  after  their 
time,  when  we  know  that  more  accurate  ideas  prevailed 
nearer  their  epoch.  Secondly,  though  there  is  some  reason 
for  stating  that  the  "  ancients,"  though  certainly  not  those  of 
Israel,  believed  in  celestial  spheres  supporting  the  heavenly 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  63 

bodies,  I  suspect  that  the  doctrine  of  a  soHd  vault  support- 
ing the  clouds^  except  as  a  mere  poetical  or  mythological  fancy, 
is  a  product  of  the  imagination  of  the  theologians  and  closet 
philosophers  of  a  more  modern  time.  The  testimony  of 
men's  senses  appears  to  be  in  favor  of  the  whole  universe 
revolving  around  a  plane  earth,  though  the  oldest  astronom- 
ical school  with  which  we  are  acquainted  suspected  that  this 
is  an  illusion ;  but  the  every-day  observation  of  the  most  un- 
lettered man  who  treads  the  fields  and  is  wet  with  the  mists 
and  rains  must  convince  him  that  there  is  no  sub-niibilar 
solid  sphere.  If,  therefore,  the  Bible  had  taught  such  a  doc- 
trine, it  would  have  shocked  the  common-sense  even  of  the 
plain  husbandmen  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  and  could  have 
found  no  fit  audience  except  among  a  portion  of  the  literati 
of  comparatively  modern  times.  Thirdly,  with  respect  to  the 
foundations  of  the  earth,  I  may  remark  that  in  the  tenth  verse 
of  Genesis  there  occurs  a  definition  as  precise  as  that  of  any 
lexicon — "  and  God  called  the  dry  land  earth ;"  consequent- 
ly it  is  but  fair  to  assume  that  the  earth  afterwards  spoken  of 
as  supported  above  the  waters  is  the  dry  land  or  continental 
masses  of  the  earth,  and  no  geologist  can  object  to  the  state- 
ment that  the  dry  land  is  supported  above  the  waters  by 
foundations  or  pillars. 

We  shall  find  in  our  examination  of  the  document  itself 
that  all  the  instances  of  such  accommodation  which  have 
been  cited  by  writers  on  this  subject  are  as  baseless  as  those 
above  referred  to.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  so  many 
otherwise  useful  expositors  have  either  wanted  that  familiarity 
with  the  aspects  of  external  nature  by  which  all  the  Hebrew 
writers  are  characterized,  or  have  taken  too  little  pains  to 
ascertain  the  actual  meaning  of  the  references  to  creation 
which  they  find  in  the  Bible.     I  may  further  remark  that  if 


64  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

such  instances  of  accommodation  could  be  found  in  the  later 
poetical  books,  it  would  be  extremely  unfair  to  apply  them  as 
aids  in  the  interpretation  of  the  plain,  precise,  and  unadorned 
statements  of  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis.  There  is,  how- 
ever, throughout  even  the  higher  poetry  of  the  Bible,  a  truth- 
ful representation  and  high  appreciation  of  nature  for  which 
we  seek  in  vain  in  any  other  poetry,  and  we  may  fairly  trace 
this  in  part  to  the  influence  of  the  cosmogony  w^hich  appears 
in  its  first  chapter.  The  Hebrew  was  thus  taught  to  recog- 
nize the  unity  of  nature  as  the  work  of  an  Almighty  Intelli- 
gence, to  regard  all  its  operations  as  regulated  by  his  un- 
changing law  or  "  decree,"  and  to  venerate  it  as  a  revelation 
of  his  supreme  wisdom  and  goodness.  On  this  account  he 
was  likely  to  regard  careful  observation  and  representation 
with  as  scrupulous  attention  as  the  modern  naturalist.  Nor 
must  we  forget  that  the  Old  Testament  literature  has  descend- 
ed to  us  through  two  dark  ages — that  of  Greek  and  Roman 
polytheism  and  of  Middle  Age  barbarism — and  that  we  must 
not  confound  its  tenets  with  those  of  either.  The  religious 
ideas  of  both  these  ages  were  favorable  to  certain  forms  of 
literature  and  art,  but  eminently  unfavorable  to  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  the  study  of  nature.  Hence  we  have  a 
right  to  expect  in  the  literature  of  the  golden  age  of  primeval 
monotheism  more  affinity  with  the  ideas  of  modern  science 
than  in  any  intermediate  time;  and  the  truthful  delineation 
which  the  claims  of  the  Bible  to  inspiration  require  might 
have  been,  as  already  hinted,  to  a  certain  extent  secured 
merely  by  the  reflex  influence  of  its  earlier  statements,  with- 
out the  necessity  of  our  supposing  that  illustrations  of  this 
kind  in  the  later  books  came  directly  from  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Our  discussion  of  this  part  of  the  subject  has  necessarily 
been  rather  desultory,  and  the  arguments  adduced  must  de- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  65 

pend  for  their  full  confirmation  on  the  results  of  our  future 
inquiries.  The  conclusions  arrived  at  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows  :  I.  That  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  must  be  considered, 
like  the  prophecies  of  the  Bible,  to  claim  the  rank  of  inspired 
teaching,  and  must  depend  for  its  authority  on  the  maintenance 
of  that  claim.  2,  That  the  incidental  references  to  nature  in 
other  parts  of  Scripture  indicate,  at  least,  the  influence  of 
these  earlier  teachings,  and  of  a  pure  monotheistic  faith,  in 
creating  a  high  and  just  appreciation  of  nature  among  the 
Hebrew  people. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  inquire  in  what  precise  form  this  re- 
markable revelation  of  the  origin  of  the  world  has  been  given.  - 
I  have  already  referred  to  the  hypothesis  that  it  represents  a 
vision  of  creation  presented  to  the  mind  of  a  seer,  as  if  in  a 
series  of  pictures  which  he  represents  to  us  in  words.  This 
is  perhaps  the  most  intelligible  conception  of  the  manner  of 
communication  of  a  revelation  from  God;  and  inasmuch  as  it 
is  that  referred  to  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible  as  the  mode  of 
presentation  of  the  future  to  inspired  prophets,  there  can  be 
no  impropriety  in  supposing  it  to  have  been  the  means  of 
communicating  the  knowledge  of  the  unknown  past.  We 
may  imagine  the  seer  —  perhaps  some  aboriginal  patriarch, 
long  before  the  time  of  Moses — perhaps  the  first  man  himself 
— wrapt  in  ecstatic  vision,  having  his  senses  closed  to  all  the 
impressions  of  the  present  time,  and  looking  as  at  a  moving 
procession  of  the  events  of  the  earth's  past  history,  presented 
to  him  in  a  series  of  apparent  days  and  nights.  In  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  he  rehearses  this  divine  vision  to  us,  not 
in  poetry,  but  in  a  series  of  regularly  arranged  parts  or 
strophes,  thrown  into  a  sort  of  rhythmical  order  fitted  to  im- 
press them  on  the  memory,  and  to  allow  them  to  be  handed 
down  from  mouth  to  mouth,  perhaps  through  successive  gen- 


66  '  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

erations  of  men,  before  they  could  be  fixed  in  a  written  form 
of  words.  Though  the  style  can  scarcely  be  called  poetical, 
since  its  expressions  are  obviously  literal  and  unadorned  by 
figures  of  speech,  the  production  may  not  unfairly  be  called 
the  Song  or  Ballad  of  Creation,  and  it  presents  an  Archaic 
simplicity  reminding  us  of  the  compositions  of  the  oldest  and 
rudest  times,  while  it  has  also  an  artificial  and  orderly  ar- 
rangement, much  obscured  by  its  division  into  verses  and  chap- 
ters in  our  Bibles.  It  is  undoubtedly  also  characterized  by  a 
clearness  and  grandeur  of  expression  very  striking  and  majes- 
tic, and  which  shows  that  it  was  written  by  and  intended  for 
men  of  no  mean  and  contracted  minds,  but  who  could  grasp 
the  great  problems  of  the  origin  of  things,  and  comprehend 
and  express  them  in  a  bold  and  vigorous  manner.  It  may  be 
well,  before  proceeding  farther,  to  present  to  the  reader  this 
ancient  document  in  a  form  more  literal  and  intelligible,  and 
probably  nearer  to  its  original  dress,  than  that  in  which  we  are 
most  familiar  with  it  in  our  English  Bibles : 

THE   ABORIGINAL   SONG    OF  CREATION. 
Beginning. 

In  the  Beginning  God  created  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth, 

And  the  Earth  was  formless  and  empty, 

And  darkness  on  the  surface  of  the  deep, 

And  the  Breath  of  God  moved  on  the  Surface  of  the  Waters. 

Day  One. 

And  God  said— ''  Let  Light  be," 

And  Light  was. 
And  God  saw  the  Light  that  it  was  good. 

And  God  called  the  Light  Day, 

And  the  darkness  he  called  Night. 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was — Day  one. 

Day  Second. 

And  God  said — "  Let  there  be  an  Expanse  in  the  midst  of  the  waters, 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  6y 

And  let  it  divide  the  waters  from  the  waters." 

And  God  made  the  Expanse, 

And  divided  the  waters  below  the  Expanse  from  the  waters  above 

the  Expanse. 
And  it  was  so. 

And  God  called  the  Expanse  Heavens. 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was,  a  Second  Day. 

Day  Third. 

And  God  said — "Let  the  waters  under  the  Heavens  be  gathered  into 

one  place, 
And  let  the  Dry  Land  appear." 
And  it  was  so. 

And  God  called  the  Dry  Land  Earth, 
And  the  gathering  of  waters  called  he  Seas. 
And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 
And  God  said — *'  Let  the  earth  shoot  forth  herbage. 
The  Herb  yielding  seed  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  containing 

seed  after  its  kind,  on  the  earth." 
And  it  was  so". 

And  the  earth  brought  forth  herbage, 

The  Herb  yielding  seed  and  the  Tree  yielding  fruit  whose  seed  is  in 
it  after  its  kind. 
And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was,  a  Third  Day. 

Day  Fourth. 

And  God  said — "Let  there  be  Luminaries  in  the  Expanse  of  Heaven, 

To  divide  the  day  from  the  night. 

And  let  them  be  for  Signs  and  for  Seasons, 

And  for  Days  and  for  Years. 

And  let  them  be  Luminaries  in  the  Expanse  of  Heaven 

To  give  light  on  the  earth." 

And  it  was  so. 

And  God  made  two  great  Luminaries, 

The  greater  Luminary  to  rule  the  day. 

The  lesser  Luminary  to  rule  the  night, 

The  Stars  also. 

And  God  placed  them  in  the  Expanse  of  Heaven 


6S  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

To  give  light  upon  the  earth, 

And  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night, 

And  to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness. 
And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was,  a  Fourth  Day. 

Day  Fifth. 

And  God  said — "  Let  the  waters  swarm  with  swarmers,  having  life, 

And  let  winged  animals  fly  over  the  earth  on  the  surface  of  the  ex- 
panse of  heaven." 

And  God  created  great  Reptiles, 

And  every  living  thing  that  moveth, 

With  which  the  waters  swarmed  after  their  kind, 

And  every  winged  bird  after  its  kind. 
And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

And  God  blessed  them,  saying — 

"  Be  fruitful  and  multiph-, 

And  fill  the  waters  of  the  sea  ; 

And  let  birds  multiply  in  the  land." 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was,  a  Fifth  Day. 

Day  Sixth. 

A7id  God  said — "  Let  the  Land  bring  forth  living  things  after  their 

kind, 
Herbivores  and  smaller  mammals  and  Carnivores  after  their  kind." 
And  it  was  so. 

And  God  made  all  Carnivores  after  their  kind, 
And  all  Herbivores  after  their  kind. 
And  all  minor  mammals  after  their  kind. 
And  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 
And  God  said — "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness, 
And  let  him  have  dominion  over  the  fish  in  the  sea 
And  over  the  birds  of  the  heavens, 
And  over  the  Herbivora, 
And  over  the  Earth, 

And  over  all  the  minor  animals  that  creep  upon  the  earth." 
And  God  created  man  in  his  own  image. 
In  the  image  of  God  created  he  him, 
Male  and  female  created  he  them. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  69 

And  God  blessed  them. 

And  God  said  unto  them — 

"  Be  fruitful  and  multipl}', 

And  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it, 

And  have  dominion  over  the  fishes  of  the  sea 

And  over  the  birds  of  the  air, 

And  over  all  the  animals  that  move  upon  the  earth." 

And  God  said— ''  Behold,  I  have  given  you  all  herbs  yielding  seed, 

Which  are  on  the  surface  of  the  whole  earth, 

And  every  tree  with  fruit  having  seed, 

They  shall  be  unto  you  for  food. 

And  to  all  the  animals  of  the  land 

And  to  all  the  birds  of  the  heavens, 

And  to  all  things  moving  on  the  land  having  the  breath  of  life, 

I  have  given  every  green  herb  for  food." 
And  it  was  so. 
And  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very 

good. 
And  Evening  was  and  Morning  was,  a  Sixth  Day. 

Day  Seventh. 

Thus  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth  were  finished, 

And  all  the  hosts  of  them. 

And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  the  work  which  he  had  made. 

And  he  rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  work  which  he  had 

made. 
And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  hallowed  it, 
Because  that  in  it  he  rested  from  all  his  work  that  he  had  created  and 
made. 


70  The  Origin  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  III. 

OBJECTS  AND  NATURE  OF  A  REVELATION  OF  ORIGINS 

— Contimied. 

"What  if  earth 
Be  but  a  shadow  of  heaven,  and  things  therein 
Each  to  the  other  like ;  more  than  on  earth  is  thought." 

Milton. 

(3)  Character  of  the  Biblical  Cosmogo?iy,  and  getter al  Views 
of  Nature  which  it  Co7itains  or  to  which  it  Leads. — Much  of 
what  appertains  to  the  character  of  the  revelation  of  origins 
has  been  anticipated  under  previous  heads.  We  have  only 
to  read  the  Song  of  Creation,  as  given  in  the  last  chapter,  to 
understand  its  power  and  influence  as  a  beginning  of  relig- 
ious doctrine.  The  revelation  was  written  for  plain  men  in 
the  infancy  of  the  world.  Imagine  Chaldean  or  Hebrew 
shepherd  listening  to  these  majestic  lines  from  the  lips  of 
some  ancient  patriarch,  and  receiving  them  as  truly  the 
words  of  God.  What  a  grand  opening  to  him  of  both  the 
seen  and  unseen  w^orlds !  Henceforth  he  has  no  super- 
stitious dread  of  the  stars  above,  or  of  the  lightning  and 
thunder,  or  of  the  dark  woods  and  flowing  waters  beneath. 
They  are  all  the  works  of  the  one  Creator,  the  same  Creator 
who  is  his  own  Maker,  in  whose  image  and  shadow  he  is 
made.  He  can  look  up  now  to  the  heavens  or  around  upon 
.the  earth,  and  see  in  all  the  handiwork  of  God,  and  can  wor- 
ship God  through  all.     He  can  see  that  the  power  that  cares 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  71 

for  the  birds  and  the  flo\Yers  of  the  field  cares  for  him.  He 
is  no  longer  the  slave  and  sport  of  unknown  and  dreadful 
powers  ;  they  are  God's  workmanship  and  under  his  control 
— nay,  God  has  given  him  a  mission  to  subdue  and  rule  over 
them.  So  these  noble  words  raise  him  to  a  new  manhood, 
and  emancipate  him  from  the  torture  of  endless  fears,  and 
open  to  him  vast  new  fields  of  thought  and  inquiry,  which 
may  enrich  him  with  boundless  treasures  of  new  religious 
and  intellectual  wealth.  Imagine  still  farther  that  he  wan- 
ders into  those  great  cities  which  are  the  seats  of  the  idola- 
tries of  his  time.  He  enters  magnificent  temples,  sees  elab- 
orately decorated  altars,  huge  images,  gorgeous  ceremonials, 
priests  gay  in  vestments  and  imposing  in  numbers.  He  is 
invited  to  bow  down  before  the  bull  Apis,  to  worship  the 
statue  of  Belus  or  of  Ishtar,  of  Osiris  or  of  Isis.  But  this  is 
not  in  his  book  of  origins.  All  these  things  are  contrivances 
of  man,  not  w^orks  of  God,  and  their  aim  is  to  invite  him  to 
adore  that  which  is  merely  his  fellow-creature,  that  which  he 
has  the  divine  commission  to  subdue  and  rule.  So  our 
primitive  Puritan  turns  away.  He  will  rather  raise  an  altar 
of  rough  stones  in  the  desert,  and  worship  the  unseen  yet 
real  Creator,  the  God  that  has  no  local  habitation  in  temples 
made  with  hands,  yet  is  everywhere  present.  Such  is  the 
moral  elevation  to  which  this  revelation  of  origins  raises  hu- 
manity ;  and  when  there  was  added  to  it  the  farther  history 
of  primeval  innocence,  of  the  fall,  and  of  the  promise  of  a 
Redeemer,  and  of  the  fate  of  the  godless  antediluvians,  there 
was  a  whole  system  of  religion,  pure  and  elevating,  and  plac- 
ing the  Abrahamidce,  who  for  ages  seem  alone  to  have  held 
to  it,  on  a  plane  of  spiritual  vantage  immeasurably  above  that 
of  other  nations.  Farther,  every  succeeding  prophet  whose 
works  are  included  in  the  sacred  canon,  following  up  these 


72  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

doctrines  in  the  same  spirit,  and  added  new  treasures  of  di- 
vine knowledge  from  age  to  age. 

But  admitting  all  this,  it  may  be  asked,  Are  these  ancient 
records  of  any  value  to  us  ?  ]\Iay  we  not  now  dispense  v.'itli 
them,  and  trust  to  the  light  of  science  ?  The  infinitely  varied 
and  discordant  notions  of  our  modern  literature  on  these 
great  questions  of  origin,  the  incapacity  of  any  philosophical 
system  to  reach  the  common  mind  for  practical  purposes, 
and  the  baseless  character  of  any  religious  system  which 
does  not  build  on  these  great  primitive  truths,  give  a  suffi- 
cient answer.  Farther,  we  may  affirm  that  the  greatest  and 
widest  generalizations  of  our  modern  science  have,  in  so  far 
as  they  are  of  practical  importance,  been  anticipated  in  the 
revelations  of  the  Bible,  and  that  in  the  cosmogony  of  Gene- 
sis and  its  continuation  in  the  other  sacred  books  we  have 
general  views  of  the  universe  as  broad  as  those  of  any  phi- 
losophies, ancient  or  modern.  This  is  a  hard  test  for  our 
revelation,  but  it  can  be  endured,  and  we  may  shortly  inquire 
what  we  find  in  the  Bible  of  such  great  general  truths. 

Many  may  be  disposed  to  admit  the  accurate  delineation 
of  natural  facts  open  to  human  observation  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  who  may  not  be  prepared  to  find  in  these  ancient 
books  any  general  views  akin  to  those  of  the  ancient  philos- 
ophers, or  to  those  obtained  by  inductive  processes  in  mod- 
ern times.  Yet  views  of  this  kind  are  scattered  through  the 
Hebrew  and  Christian  Scriptures,  and  are  a  natural  out- 
growth and  development  of  the  great  facts  and  principles 
asserted  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  They  resolve 
themselves,  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  into  the  two  lead- 
ing ideas  of  order  and  adaptation.  I  have  already  quoted 
the  eloquent  admission  by  Baron  Humboldt  of  the  presence 
of  these  ideas  of  the  cosmos  in  Psalm  civ.     They  are  both 


Objects  and  Natttre  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  73 

conspicuous  in  the  narrative  of  creation,  and  equally  so  in  a 
great  number  of  other  passages.  "  Order  is  heaven's  first 
law  j  and  the  second  is, like  unto  it — that  every  thing  serves 
an  end.  This  is  the  sum  of  all  science.  These  are  the 
two  mites,  even  all  that  she  hath,  which  she  throws  into  the 
treasury  of  the  Lord ;  and,  as  she  does  so  in  faith.  Eternal 
Wisdom  looks  on  and  approves  the  deed."*  These  two 
mites,  lawfully  acquired  by  science,  by  her  independent  exer- 
tions, she  may,  however,  recognize  as  of  the  same  coinage 
with  the  treasure  already  laid  up  in  the  rich  storehouse  of 
the  Hebrew  literature;  but  in  a  peculiar  and  complex  form, 
which  may  be  illustrated  under  the  following  general  state- 
ments : 

I.  The  Scriptures  assert  invariable  natural  law,  and  con- 
stantly recurring  cycles  in  nature.  Natural  law  is  expressed 
as  the  ordinance  or  decree  of  Jehovah.  From  the  oldest  of 
the  Hebrew  books  I  select  the  following  examples  :  f 

**  When  he  made  a  decree  for  the  rain, 
And  a  way  for  the  thunder-flash." 

— Job  xxviii.,  26. 

"  Knowest  thou  the  ordinances  of  the  heavens  ? 
Canst  thou  establish  a  dominion  even  over  the  earth  ?" 

— Job  xxxviii.,  33. 

The  later  books  give  us  such  views  as  the  following : 

**  He  hath  established  them  [the  heavens]  for  ever  and  ever ; 
He  hath  made  a  decree  which  shall  not  pass." 

— Psa.  cxlviii.,  6. 

*  McCosh,  "  Typical  Forms  and  Special  Ends." 

1 1  adopt  that  view  of  the  date  of  Job  which  makes  il  precede  the  Exo- 
dus, because  the  religious  ideas  of  the  book  are  patriarchal,  and  it  contains 
no  allusions  to  the  Hebrew  history  or  institutions.  Were  I  to  suggest  an 
hypothesis  as  to  its  origin,  it  would  be  that  it  was  written  or  found  by 

D 


74  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

"  Thou  art  forever,  O  Jehovah,  thy  word  is  established  in  the  heavens ; 

Thou  hast  established  the  earth,  and  it  abideth ; 

They  continue  this  day  according  to  thine  ordinances,  for  all  are  thy 

servants."  _ 

— rsa.  cxix.,  90. 

"  When  he  established  the  clouds  above ; 

"When  he  strengthened  the  fountains  of  the  deep ; 

When  he  gave  to  the  sea  his  decree, 

That  the  waters  should  not  pass  his  commandment ; 

When  he  appointed  the  foundations  of  the  earth." 

— Prov.  viii.,  28. 

Many  similar  instances  \vill  be  found  in  succeeding  pages; 
and  in  the  mean  time  we  may  turn  to  the  idea  of  recurring 
cycles,  which  forms  the  starting-point  of  the  reasonings  of 
Solomon  on  the  current  of  human  affairs,  in  the  book  of 
Ecclesiastes  :  "  One  generation  passeth  away,  and  another 
generation  cometh  ;  but  the  earth  abideth  for  the  ages.  The 
sun  ariseth,  and  the  sun  goeth  down,  and  hasteneth  to  its 
place  whence  it  arose.  The  wind  goeth  toward  the  south, 
and  turneth  unto  the  north.  It  whirleth  about  continually, 
and  returneth  again  according  to  its  circuits.  All  the  rivers 
run  into  the  sea,  yet  the  sea  doth  not  overflow ;  unto  the 
place  whence  the  rivers  came,  thither  they  return  again."  I 
might  fill  pages  with  quotations  more  or  less  illustrative  of 
the  statement  in  proof  of  which  the  above  texts  are  cited;  but 
enough  has  been  given  to  show  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible 
is  not  that  of  fortuitous  occurrence,  or  of  materialism,  or  of 
pantheism,  or  of  arbitrary  supernaturalism,  but  of  invariable 
natural  law  representing  the  decree  of  a  wise  and  unchanging 
Creator.  It  is  a  common  but  groundless  and  shallow  charge 
against  the  Bible  that  it  teaches  an  '•  arbitrary  supernatural- 
Moses  when  in  exile,  and  published  among  his  countrymen  in  Eg}'pt,  to 
revive  their  monotheistic  religion,  and  cheer  them  under  the  apparent  de- 
r,ertion  of  their  God  and  the  evils  of  their  bondage. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  75 

ism."  What  it  does  teach  is  that  all  nature  is  regulated  by 
the  laws  of  God,  which  like  himself  are  unchanging,  but  which 
are  so  complex  in  their  relations  and  adjustments  that  they 
allow  of  infinite  variety,  and  do  not  exclude  even  miraculous 
intervention,  or  what  appears  to  our  limited  intelligence  as 
such.  In  opposition  to  this,  it  is  true,  some  physicists  have 
held  that  natural  law  is  a  fatal  necessity.*  If  they  mean  by 
this  a  merely  hypothetical  necessity  that  certain  effects  must 
follow  if  certain  laws  act,  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  Bib- 
lical view,  for  nothing  can  resist  the  \\\\\  of  God.  But  if  they 
mean  an  absolute  necessity  that  these  laws  can  not  be  sus- 
pended or  counteracted  by  higher  laws,  or  by  the  will  of  the 
Creator,  they  assert  what  is  not  only  contrary  to  Scripture,  but 
absurd,  for  "  blind  metaphysical  necessity,  which  is  the  same 
always  and  everywhere,  could  produce  no  variety  of  things."! 
It  could  lead  merely  to  a  dead  and  inert  equilibrium.  On  the 
hypothesis  of  mere  physical  necessity,  the  universe  either  never 
could  have  existed,  or  must  have  come  to  an  end  infinite  ages 
ago,  which  is  the  same  thing.  Only  on  the  hypothesis  of  law 
proceeding  from  an  intelligent  will  can  we  logically  account 
for  nature. 

2.  The  Bible  recognizes  progress  and  development  in  nat- 
ure. At  the  very  outset  we  have  this  idea  embodied  in  the 
gradual  elaboration  of  all  things  in  the  six  creative  periods, 
rising  from  the  formless  void  of  the  beginning,  through  suc- 
cessive stages  of  inorganic  and  organic  being,  up  to  Eden 
and  to  man.  Beyond  this  point  the  work  of  creation  stops; 
but  there  is  to  be  an  occupation  and  improvement  of  the 
whole  earth  by  man  spreading  from  Eden.  This  process  is 
arrested  or  impeded  by  sin  and  the  fall.     Here  commences 

*  Tyndall  seems  to  hold  this.  t  Newton. 


76  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

the  special  province  of  the  Bible,  in  explaining  the  means  of 
recovery  from  the  fall,  and  of  the  establishment  of  a  new 
spiritual  and  moral  kingdom,  and  finally  of  the  restoration  of 
Eden  in  a  new  heaven  and  earth.  All  this  is  moral,  and  re- 
lates to  man,  in  so  far  as  the  present  state  of  things  is  con- 
cerned ;  but  we  have  the  commentary  of  Jesus  :  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work  ;"  the  remarkable  statement  of 
Paul,  that  the  whole  creation  is  involved  in  the  results  of 
man's  moral  fall  and  restoration,  and  the  equally  remarkable 
one  that  the  Redeemer  is  also  the  maker  of  the  "worlds"  or 
ages  of  the  earth's  physical  progress,  as  well  as  of  the  future 
"  new  heaven  and  new  earth."  Peter  also  rebukes  indignant- 
ly those  scoffers  who  maintained  that  all  things  had  remained 
as  they  are  since  the  beginning ;  and  refers  to  the  creation 
week  and  to  the  deluge  as  earnests  of  the  great  changes  yet 
in  store  for  the  earth.* 

It  is  indeed  curious  to  observe  how  in  our  version  of  the 
Bible  this  idea  of  progress  in  the  universe,  or  of  "  time-worlds," 
as  it  has  been  called,  has  been  variously  replaced  by  the  \vords 
"  world  "  and  "  eternity,"  owing  to  the  defective  ideas  preva- 
lent at  the  time  when  the  translation  was  made.  In  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  the  term  Olam,  "  age,"  and  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment the  equivalent  term  Aion  have  been  thus  treated,  and 
their  real  significance  much  obscured.  Thus  when  it  is  said, 
"  by  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed,"  or  "  by 
him  God  made  the  worlds"'\  or  that  certain  of  God's  plans 
have  been  hid  "from  the  beginning  of  the  world,''^X  the  refer- 
ence is  not  to  worlds  in  space,  but  to  worlds  in  time,  or  ages 
of  God's  working  in  the  universe.     So  also  these  ages  of  God's 


*  John  v.,  17  ;  Rom.  viii.,  22  ;  Heb.  i.,  2  ;  2  Peter  iii. 
t  Heb.  i.,  2.  X  Eph.  iii.,  9. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  77 

working  are  given  to  us  as  our  only  intelligible  type  of  eter- 
nity, of  which  absolutely  we  can  have  no  conception.  Thus 
God's  "  eternal  purpose  "  is  his  purpose  of  the  ages.  So  when 
he  is  the  "  King  eternal,"*  and  in  that  capacity  gives  to  his 
people  "  life  everlasting,"  he  is  the  King  of  the  ages,  and  gives 
life  of  the  ages.  So  in  the  noble  hymn  attributed  to  Moses 
(Psalm  xc),  where  our  version  has,  "from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting thou  art  God,"  the  original  is,  "  from  age  to  age  thou 
art,  O  God."  It  has  perhaps  been  a  defect  of  our  modern 
science  that  it  has  familiarized  us  merely  with  the  existence 
of  worlds  in  space,  and  not  with  their  existence  in  time.  It 
is  only  in  comparatively  modern  times  that  the  developments 
of  chronological  geology  and  of  physical  astronomy  have 
brought  before  us,  not  only  the  long  ages  in  which  the  earth 
was  passing  through  its  formative  stages,  but  also  the  fact 
that  still  longer  oeons  are  embraced  in  the  history  of  the  other 
bodies  of  our  solar  system,  and  of  the  starry  orbs  and  nebulae. 
These  grand  conceptions  were  already  embodied  in  the  He- 
brew revelation,  and  were  used  there  as  the  means  of  giving 
some  faint  approach  to  a  conception  of  the  unlimited  exist- 
ence of  God  himself,  of  the  ages  in  which  his  creative  work 
has  been  going  on,  and  of  the  future  life  he  has  prepared  for 
his  redeemed  people. 

Such  views  of  development  and  progress  are  not  unknown 
to  many  ancient  cosmogonies  and  philosophical  systems,  but 
they  had  no  stable  foundation  in  observed  fact  until  the  rise 
of  modern  geology  and  physical  astronomy;  which  enable  us 
to  afnrm  that,  in  addition  to  those  changeless  physical  laws 
which  cause  the  bodies  of  the  universe  to  wheel  in  unvarying 
cycles,  and  all  natural  powers  to  reproduce  themselves,  and,  in 

*  I  Tim.  i.,  17.  t  Eph.  iv.,  11. 


78  TJic  Origin  of  the  World. 

addition  to  those  organic  laws  which  produce  unceasing  suc- 
cessions of  living  individuals,  there  is  a  higher  law  of  prog- 
ress. We  can  now  trace  back  man,  the  animals  and  plants 
his  contemporaries,  and  others  which  preceded  them,  our  con- 
tinents and  mountain  ranges,  and  the  solid  rocks  of  which 
they  are  composed — nay,  the  very  fabric  of  the  solar  system 
itself — to  their  several  origins  at  distinct  points  of  time;  and 
can  maintain  that  since  the  earth  began  to  wheel  around  the 
sun,  no  succeeding  year  has  seen  it  precisely  as  it  was  in  the 
year  before.  The  old  Hebrew  record  affirms,  and  I  presume 
scarcely  any  sane  man  really  doubts,  that  this  law  of  progress 
emanates  from  the  mind  and  power  of  one  creative  Being. 
When  men  see  in  natural  law  only  recurring  cycles,  they  may 
be  pardoned  for  falling  even  into  the  absurdity  of  believing 
in  eternal  succession;  but  \^ien  they  see  change  and  prog- 
ress, and  this  in  a  uniform  direction,  overmastering  recurring 
cycles,  and  introducing  new  objects  and  powers  not  account- 
ed for  by  previous  objects  or  powers,  they  are  brought  very 
near  to  the  presence  of  the  Spiritual  Creator.  And  hence, 
although  no  science  can  reach  back  to  the  act  of  creation, 
this  doctrine  is  much  more  strongly  held  in  our  day  by  geol- 
ogists than  by  physicists.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  idea  of 
creative  acts  has  been  superseded  to  a  great  extent  by  that 
of  "  creation  by  law,"  or  by  that  of  "evolution."  Still  behind 
all  there  lies  a  primary  creative  power;  and  the  validity  of 
these  ideas  and  their  bearing  on  theism  and  creation  we  shall 
have  to  discuss  in  the  sequel.  In  one  thing  only  does  the 
Bible  here  part  company  with  natural  science.  The  Bible 
goes  on  into  the  future,  and  predicts  a  final  condition  of  our 
planet,  of  which  science  can  from  its  investigations  learn 
nothing. 

3.  The  Bible  recognizes  purpose,  use,  and  special  adapta- 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.  79 

tion  in  nature.  It  is,  in  short,  full  of  natural  theology,  akin 
in  some  respects  to  that  which  has  been  so  elaborately  work- 
ed out  by  so  many  modern  writers.  Numerous  passages  in 
support  of  this  will  occur  to  every  one  who  has  read  the 
Scriptures.  It  is  necessary  here,  however,  to  direct  attention 
to  a  distinction  very  obvious  in  Scripture,  but  not  always 
attended  to  by  writers  on  this  subject.  The  Bible  maintains 
the  true  "final  cause"  of  all  nature  to  be,  not  its  material 
and  special  adaptations  or  its  value  to  man,  but  the  pleasure 
or  satisfaction  of  the  Creator  himself  In  the  earlier  periods 
of  Creation,  before  man  was  upon  the  earth,  God  contemplates 
his  work  and  pronounces  it  good.  The  heavenly  hosts  praise 
him,  saying,  "  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleas- 
ure they  are  and  were  created."  Further,  the  Bible  repre- 
sents intelligences  higher  than  man  as  sharing  in  the  delight 
which  may  be  derived  from  the  contemplation  of  God's  works. 
When  the  earth  first  rose  from  the  waters  to  greet  the  light, 
"  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouted  for  jo3\"  There  are  many  things  in  nature  that 
strongly  impress  the  naturalist  with  this  same  view,  that  the 
Creator  takes  pleasure  in  his  works;  and,  like  human  genius 
in  its  highest  efforts,  rejoices  in  production,  even  if  no  sen- 
tient being  should  be  ready  to  sympathize.  The  elaborate 
structures  of  fossils,  of  which  we  have  only  fragmentary  re- 
mains, the  profusion  of  natural  objects  of  surpassing  beauty 
that  grow  and  perish  unseen  by  us,  the  delicate  microscopic 
mechanism  of  nearly  all  organic  structures,  point  to  other 
reasons  for  beauty  and  order  than  those  that  concern  man,  or 
the  mere  utilities  of  human  beings;  and  though  there  are  now 
naturalists  who  deny  absolutely  that  beauty  is  an  object  in 
nature,  and  assign  even  the  colors  of  flowers  and  insects  to 
utility  alone,  and  this  of  a  very  low  order,  this  doctrine  is  so 


8o  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

repulsive  to  our  higher  sentiments  that  there  is  little  danger 
of  its  general  acceptance ;  while  the  slightest  consideration 
shows  that  the  utihties  referred  to  could  have  been  secured 
without  any  of  this  consummate  beauty  associated  with  them, 
and  our  perception  of  and  delight  in  which  mark  in  a  way 
beyond  the  ability  of  skepticism  to  cavil  at  our  own  spiritual 
kinship  with  the  Author  of  all  this  profusion  of  beauty.  Yet 
man  is  represented  as  the  chief  created  being  for  whom  this 
earth  has  been  prepared  and  designed.  He  obtains  dominion 
over  it.  A  chosen  spot  is  prepared  for  him,  in  which  not  only 
his  wants  but  his  tastes  are  consulted ;  and,  being  made  in 
the  image  of  his  Maker,  his  aesthetic  sentiments  correspond 
with  the  beauties  of  the  Maker's  work,  and  he  finds  there 
also  food  for  his  reason  and  imagination.  This  view  of  the 
subject,  as  well  as  others  already  referred  to,  is  finely  repre- 
sented in  the  address  of  the  Almighty  to  Job.* 

The  Bible  also  very  often  refers  to  the  special  adapta- 
tions of  natural  objects  and  laws  to  each  other,  and  to  the 
promotion  of  the  happiness  of  sentient  creatures  lower  than 
man.  The  104th  Psalm  is  replete  with  notices  of  such 
adaptations,  and  so  is  the  address  to  Job ;  and  indeed  this 
view  seems  hardly  ever  absent  from  the  minds  of  the  Hebrew 
writers,  but  has  its  highest  applications  in  the  lilies  of  the 
field,  that  toil  not  neither  do  they  spin,  and  the  sparrows  that 
are  sold  for  a  farthing,  yet  the  heavenly  Father  has  clothed 
the  one  with  surpassing  beauty,  and  provides  food  for  the 
other,  nor  allows  it  to  fall  without  his  knowledge.  I  may,  by 
way  of  farther  illustration,  merely  name  a  few  of  the  adapta- 
tions referred  to  in  Job  xxxviii.  and  the  following  chapters. 
The  winds  and  the  clouds  are  so  arranged  as  to  afford  the 

*  Job  xxxviii.  and  xxxix. 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.    8i 

required  supplies  of  moisture  to  the  wilderness  where.no  man 
is,  to  "cause  the  bud  of  the  tender  herb  to  spring  forth." 
For  similar  objects  the  tempest  is  ordered,  and  the  clouds 
arranged  "  by  wisdom."  The  adaptations  of  the  wild  ass,  the 
wild  goat,  the  ostrich,  the  migratory  birds,  the  horse,  the  hip- 
popotamus, the  crocodile,  to  their  several  habitats,  modes  of 
life,  and  uses  in  nature,  are  most  vividly  sketched  and  applied 
as  illustrations  of  the  consummate  wisdom  of  the  Creator, 
which  descends  to  the  minutest  details  of  organization  and 
habit. 

It  is  to  be  observed  here  that  in  holding  this  doctrine  of 
use  and  adaptation  in  nature,  the  Bible  is  only  consistent 
with  its  own  theory  of  rational  theism.  The  Monotheist  can 
not  refer  nature  to  a  conflict  of  antagonistic  powers  and 
forces.  He  must  recognize  in  it  a  unity  of  plan  ;  and  even 
those  things  which  appear  aberrant,  irregular,  or  noxious 
must  have  their  place  in  this  plan.  Hence  in  the  Bible  God 
is  maker  not  only  of  the  day  but  of  the  night,  not  only  of  the 
peaceful  cattle  but  of  the  voracious  crocodile,  not  only  of 
the  sunshine  and  shower  but  of  the  tornado  and  the  earth- 
quake. Further,  in  all  these  things  God  is  manifested,  so 
that  we  may  learn  "his  eternal  power  and  divinity* from  the 
things  which  he  has  made,"  and  in  all  these  also  there  are 
emblems  of  his  relations  to  us.  This  argument  from  design 
is  in  truth  the  only  proof  the  Bible  condescends  to  urge  for 
the  existence  of  God  ;  and  it  is  the  only  one  in  which  in  his 
later  days  our  great  English  philosopher  Mill  could  see  any 

validity.! 

If  the  reader  happens  to  be  familiar  with  the  objections  to 
the  doctrine  of  final  causes,  or  teleology,  in  nature,  urged  in 

*  Romans  i.,  20.  t  Essays  on  Theism, 

D2 


S2  TJlc  Origin  of  the   World. 

our  day  by  Spencer,  Haeckel,  and  others,  he  will  have  seen 
from  the  foregoing  statements  that  these  objections  are  in 
themselves  baseless,  or  inapplicable  to  this  doctrine  as  main- 
tained in  the  Bible.  There  is  no  consistency  in  the  position 
of  men  who,  when  they  dig  a  rudely  chipped  flint  out  of  a  bed 
of  gravel,  immediately  infer  an  intelligent  workman,  and  who 
refuse  to  see  any  indication  of  a  higher  intelligence  in  the 
creation  of  the  workman  himself  It  is  a  blind  philosophy 
which  professes  to  see  in  primal  atoms  the  "promise  and 
potency  of  mind,"  and  which  fails  to  perceive  that  such 
potency  is  more  inconceivable  than  the  evidence  of  primary 
and  supreme  mind.  The  men  who  maintain  that  wings  were 
not  planned  for  flight,  but  that  flight  has  produced  wings, 
and  thousands  of  like  propositions,  are  simply  amusing  them- 
selves with  paradoxes  to  which  may  very  properly  be  applied 
the  strange  word  devised  by  Haeckel  to  express  his  theory  of 
nature — Dystekology,  or  purposelessness.  It  is  to  be  borne 
in  mind,  however,  that  the  teleology  of  the  Bible  is  not  of  that 
narrow  kind  which  would  make  man  the  sole  object  of  nat- 
ure, and  the  supreme  judge  of  its  adaptations.  Inasmuch  as 
God's  plan  goes  over  all  the  ages  past  and  future,  and  relates 
to  the  welfare  of  all  sentient  beings  known  or  unknown  to  us, 
and  also  to  his  own  sovereign  pleasure  as  the  supreme  object, 
we  may  not  be  in  a  position  either  to  understand  or  profit  by 
all  its  parts,  and  hence  may  expect  to  find  many  mysteries, 
and  many  things  that  we  can  not  at  present  reconcile  with 
God's  wisdom  and  goodness.  We  know  but  "parts  of  his 
ways,"  the  "  fullness  of  his  power  who  can  understand." 
"His  judgments  are  unsearchable,"  "his  ways  are  past 
finding  out." 
4.  The  law  of  type  or  pattern  in  nature  is  distinctly  indicat- 
ed in  the  Bible.     This  is  a  principle  only  recently  understood 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.   83 

by  naturalists,  but  it  has  more  or  less  dimly  dawned  on  the 
minds  of  many  great  thinkers  in  all  ages.  Nor  is  this  won- 
derful, for  the  idea  of  type  is  scarcely  ever  absent  from  our 
own  conceptions  of  any  work  that  we  may  undertake.  In 
any  such  work  we  anticipate  recurring  daily  toil,  like  the  re- 
turning cycles  of  nature.  We  look  for  progress,  like  that  of 
the  growth  of  the  universe.  We  study  adaptation  both  of  the 
several  parts  to  subordinate  uses,  and  of  the  whole  to  some 
general  design.  But  we  also  keep  in  view  some  pattern,  style, 
or  order,  according  to  which  the  whole  is  arranged,  and  the 
mutual  relations  of  the  parts  are  adjusted.  The  architect 
must  adhere  to  some  order  of  architecture,  and  to  some  style 
within  that  order.  The  potter,  the  calico-printer,  and  the 
silversmith  must  equally  study  uniformity  of  pattern  in  their 
several  manufactures.  The  Almighty  Worker  has  exhibited 
the  same  idea  in  his  works.  In  the  animal  kingdom,  for  in- 
stance, we  have  four  or  more  leading  types  of  structure. 
Taking  any  one  of  these — the  vertebrate,  for  example — we 
have  a  uniform  general  plan,  embracing  the  vertebral  column 
constructed  of  the  same  elements  ;  the  members,  whether  the 
arm  of  man,  the  limb  of  the  quadruped,  or  the  wing  of  the 
bat  or  the  bird,  or  the  swimming-paddle  of  the  whale,  built  of 
the  same  bones.  In  like  manner  all  the  parts  of  the  verte- 
bral column  itself  in  the  same  animal,  whether  in  the  skull, 
the  neck,  or  the  trunk,  are  composed  of  the  same  elementary 
structures.  These  types  are  farther  found  to  be  sketched  out 
— first  in  their  more  general,  and  then  in  their  special  features 
— in  proceeding  from  the  lower  species  of  the  same  type  to 
the  higher,  in  proceeding  from  the  earlier  to  the  later  stages 
of  embryonic  development,  and  in  proceeding  from  the  more 
ancient  to  the  more  recent  creatures  that  have  succeeded 
each  other  in  geological  time.     Man,  the  highest  of  the  ver- 


84  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 

tebrates,  is  thus  the  archetype,  representing  and  including  all 
the  lower  and  earlier  members  of  the  vertebrate  type.  The 
above  are  but  trite  and  familiar  examples  of  a  doctrine  which 
may  furnish  and  has  furnished  the  material  of  volumes. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  the  Hebrew  Bible  is  the  old- 
est book  in  which  this  principle  is  stated.  In  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis  we  have  specific  type  in  the  creation  of  plants 
and  animals  after  their  kinds  or  species,  and  in  the  formation 
of  man  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  the  Creator  ;  and,  as  we 
shall  find  in  the  sequel,  there  are  some  curious  ideas  of  high- 
er and  more  general  types  in  the  grouping  of  the  creatures 
referred  to.  The  same  idea  is  indicated  in  the  closing  chap- 
ters of  Job,  where  the  three  higher  classes  of  the  vertebrates 
are  represented  by  a  number  of  examples,  and  the  typical 
likeness  of  one  of  these — the  hippopotamus — to  man,  seems 
to  be  recognized.  Dr.  McCosh  has  quoted,  as  an  illustration 
of  the  doctrine  of  types,  a  very  remarkable  passage  from 
Psalm  cxxxix. : 

"  I  will  praise  Thee,  for  I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made. 
Marvellous  are  thy  works, 
And  that  my  soul  knoweth  right  well. 
My  substance  was  not  hid  from  Thee, 
When  I  was  made  in  secret, 

And  curiously  wrought  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth  ; 
Thine  eyes  did  see  my  substance,  yet  being  imperfect ; 
And  in  thy  book  all  my  members  were  written, 
Which  in  continuance  were  fashioned  when  as  yet  there  was  none 
of  them." 

It  would  too  much  tax  the  faith  of  many  to  ask  them  to 
believe  that  the  writer  of  the  above  passage,  or  the  Spirit  that 
inspired  him,  actually  meant  to  teach — what  we  now  know  so 
well  from  geology — that  the  prototypes  of  all  the  parts  of  the 


Objects  and  Nature  of  a  Revelation  of  Origins.   85 

archetypal  human  structure  may  be  found  in  those  fossil  re- 
mains of  extinct  animals  which  may,  in  nearly  every  country, 
be  dug  up  from  the  rocks  of  the  earth.  No  objection  need, 
however,  be  taken  to  our  reading  in  it  the  doctrine  of  embry- 
onic development  according  to  a  systematic  type. 

Science,  it  is  true,  or  rather  I  should  perhaps  say  philo- 
sophical speculation,  has  sometimes  pushed  this  idea  of  plan 
into  that  of  a  spontaneous  genetic  evolution  of  things  in  time, 
without  any  creative  superintendence  or  definite  purpose. 
This  way  of  viewing  the  matter  is,  however,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  see,  both  bald  and  irrational,  and  wants  the  sym- 
metry and  completeness  of  that  style  of  thought  which  grasps 
at  once  progress  and  plan  and  adaptation,  as  emanating  from 
a  Supreme  Will.  The  question  of  how  the  plan  has  been 
worked  out  will  come  up  for  detailed  consideration  farther 
on.  In  the  mean  time  we  have  before  us  the  fact  that  the 
Bible  represents  the  cosmos  as  not  the  product  of  a  blind 
conflict  of  self-existent  forces,  but  as  the  result  of  the  pro- 
duction and  guidance  of  these  forces  by  infinite  wisdom. 

It  is  more  than  curious  that  this  idea  of  type,  so  long  exist- 
ing in  an  isolated  and  often  depised  form,  as  a  theological 
thought  in  the  imagery  of  Scripture,  should  now  be  a  lead- 
ing idea  of  natural  science  j  and  that  while  comparative 
anatomy  teaches  us  that  the  structures  of  all  past  and  pres- 
ent lower  animals  point  to  man,  w^ho,  as  Professor  Owen  ex- 
presses it,  has  had  all  his  parts  and  organs  "  sketched  out  in 
anticipation  in  the  inferior  animals,"  the  Bible  points  still 
farther  forward  to  an  exaltation  of  the  human  type  itself  into 
what  even  the  comparative  anatomist  might  perhaps  regard 
as  among  the  "  possible  modifications  of  it  beyond  those 
realized  in  this  little  orb  of  ours,"  could  he  but  learn  its  real 
nature. 


86  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

Under  the  foregoing  heads,  of  the  object,  the  structure,  the 
authority,  and  the  general  cosmical  views  of  the  Scripture,  I 
have  endeavored  to  group  certain  leading  thoughts  important 
as  preliminary  to  the  study  of  the  subject;  and,  in  now  enter- 
ing on  the  details  of  the  Old  Testament  cosmogony,  I  trust 
the  reader  will  pardon  me  for  assuming,  as  a  working  hypoth- 
esis, that  we  are  studying  an  inspired  book,  revealing  the 
origin  of  nature,  and  presenting  accurate  pictures  of  natural 
facts  and  broad  general  views  of  the  cosmos,  at  least  until  in 
the  progress  of  our  inquiry  we  find  reason  to  adopt  lower 
views  ;  and  that  he  will,  in  the  mean  time,  be  content  to  fol- 
low me  in  that  careful  and  systematic  analysis  which  a  work 
claiming  such  a  character  surely  demands. 


The  Beginning,  87 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    BEGIXXIXG. 

"  In  the  beginning  Elohim  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." — Gene- 
sis i.,  I. 

It  is  a  remarkable  and  instructive  fact  that  the  first  verse 
of  the  Hebrew  sacred  writings  speaks  of  the  material  uni- 
verse— speaks  of  it  as  a  whole,  and  as  originating  in  a  power 
outside  of  itself  The  universe,  then,  in  the  conception  of 
this  ancient  writer,  is  not  eternal.  It  had  a  beginning,  but 
that  beginning  in  the  indefinite  and  by  us  unmeasured  past. 
It  did  not  originate  fortuitously,  or  by  any  merely  accidental 
conflict  of  self  existent  material  atoms,  but  by  an  act — an  act 
of  will  on  the  part  of  a  Being  designated  by  that  name  which 
among  all  the  Semitic  peoples  represented  the  ultimate,  eter- 
nal, inscrutable  source  of  power  and  object  of  awe  and  ven- 
eration. "With  the  simplicity  and  child-like  faith  of  an  archaic 
age,  the  writer  makes  no  attempt  to  combat  any  objections  or 
difficulties  with  which  this  great  fundamental  truth  may  be  as- 
sailed. He  feels  its  axiomatic  force  as  the  basis  of  all  true 
religion  and  sound  philosophy,  and  the  ultimate  fact  which 
must  ever  bar  our  further  progress  in  the  investigation  of  the 
origin  of  things — the  production  from  non-existence  of  the 
material  universe  by  the  eternal  self-existent  God. 

It  did  not  concern  him  to  know  what  might  be  the  nature 
of  that  unconditioned   self- existence ;  for  though,  like  our 


88  TJic  Origin  of  the  World. 

ideas  of  space  and  time,  incomprehensible,  it  must  be  as- 
sumed. It  did  not  concern  him  to  know  how  matter  and 
force  subsist,  or  what  may  be  the  difference  between  a  ma- 
terial universe  cognizable  by  our  senses  and  the  absolute 
want  of  all  the  phenomena  of  such  a  universe  or  of  whatever 
may  be  their  basis  and  essence.  Such  questions  can  never 
be  answered,  yet  the  succession  of  these  phenomena  must 
have  had  a  commencement  somewhere  in  time.  How  sim- 
ple and  how  grand  is  his  statement !  How  plain  and  yet 
how  profound  its  teachings ! 

It  is  evident  that  the  writer  grasps  firmly  the  essence  of 
the  question  as  to  the  beginning  of  things,  and  covers  the 
whole  ground  which  advanced  scientific  or  philosophical 
speculation  can  yet  traverse.  That  the  universe  must  have 
had  a  beginning  no  one  now  needs  to  be  told.  If  any  phil- 
osophical speculator  ever  truly  held  that  there  has  been  an 
endless  succession  of  phenomena,  science  has  now  completely 
negatived  the  idea  by  showing  us  the  beginning  of  all  things 
that  we  know  in  the  present  universe,  and  by  establishing 
the  strongest  probabilities  that  even  its  ultimate  atoms  could 
not  have  been  eternal.  But  the  question  remains — If  there 
was  a  beginning,  what  existed  in  that  beginning  ?  To  this 
question  many  partial  and  imperfect  answers  have  been 
given,  but  our  ancient  record  includes  them  all. 

If  any  one  should  say,  "In  the  beginning  was  nothing." 
Yes,  says  Genesis,  there  was,  it  is  true,  nothing  of  the  pres- 
ent matter  and  arrangements  of  nature.  Yet  all  was  pres- 
ent potentially  in  the  will  of  the  Creator. 

"  In  the  beginning  were  atoms,"  says  another.  Yes,  says 
Genesis,  but  they  were  created  ;  and  so  says  modern  science, 
and  must  say  of  ultimate  particles  determined  by  weight  and 
measure,  and   incapable   of  modification   in   their   essential 


TJic  Beginning,  89 

properties — "  They  have  the  properties  of  a  manufactured 
article."* 

"  In  the  beginning  were  forces,"  says  yet  another.  True, 
says  Genesis;  but  all  forces  are  one  in  origin — they  represent 
merely  the  fiat  of  the  eternal  and  self-existent.  So  says  sci- 
ence, that  force  must  in  the  ultimate  resort  be  an  "expression 
of  Will."  t 

"  In  the  beginning  was  Elohim,"  adds  our  old  Semitic  au- 
thority, and  in  him  are  the  absolute  and  eternal  thought  and 
will,  the  Creator  from  whom  and  by  whom  and  in  whom  are 
all  things. 

Thus  the  simple  familiar  words,  "  In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  answer  all  possible  ques- 
tions as  to  the  origin  of  things,  and  include  all  under  the 
conception  of  theism.  Let  us  now  look  at  these  pregnant 
words  more  particularly  as  to  their  precise  import  and  sig- 
nificance. 

The  divine  personality  expressed  by  the  Hebrew  Elohim 
may  be  fairly  said  to  include  all  that  can  be  claimed  for  the 
pantheistic  conception  of  "dynamis,"  or  universal  material 
power.  Lange  gives  this  as  included  in  the  term  Elohim,  in 
his  discussion  of  this  term  in  his  book  on  Genesis.  It  has 
been  aptly  said  that  if,  physically  speaking,  the  fall  of  a  spar- 
row produces  a  gravitative  effect  that  extends  throughout  the 
universe,  there  can  be  no  reason  why  it  should  be  unknown 
to  God.  God  is  thus  everywhere,  and  always.  Yet  he  is 
everywhere  and  always  present  as  a  personality  knowing 
and  willing.  From  his  thought  and  will  in  the  beginning 
proceeded  the  universe.     By  him  it  was  created. 

*  Herschel,  Dissertation  on  the  Study  of  Natural  Philosophy ;  Maxwell, 
Lecture  before  the  British  Association, 
t  Carpenter,  "Human  Physiology." 


90  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

What,  then,  is  creation  in  the  sense  of  the  Hebrew  writer. 
The  act  is  expressed  by  the  verb  hara,  a  word  of  compara- 
tively rare  occurrence  in  the  Scriptures,  and  employed  to  de- 
note absolute  creation,  though  its  primary  sense  is  to  cut  or 
carve,  and  it  is  indeed  a  near  relative  of  our  own  English 
word  "  pare."  If,  says  Professor  Stuart,  of  Andover,  this 
word  "  does  not  mean  to  create  in  the  highest  sense,  then  the 
Hebrews  had  no  word  by  which  they  could  designate  this 
idea."  Yet,  like  our  English  "  create,"  the  word  is  used  in 
secondary  and  figurative  senses,  which  in  no  degree  detract 
from  its  force  when  strictly  and  literally  used.  Since,  how- 
ever, these  secondary  senses  may  often  appear  to  obscure  the 
primitive  meaning,  we  must  examine  them  in  detail. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  after  the  general  statement 
in  verse  i,  other  verbs  signifying  \.o  form  or  viake  are  used  to 
denote  the  elaboration  of  the  separate  parts  of  the  universe, 
and  the  word  "create"  is  found  in  only  two  places,  when  it  re- 
fers to  the  introduction  of  "great  whales"  (reptiles)  and  of 
man.  These  uses  of  the  word  have  been  cited  to  disprove 
its  sense  of  absolute  creation.  It  must  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  in  the  first  of  these  cases  we  have  the  earliest  ap- 
pearance of  animal  life,  and  in  the  second  the  introduction 
of  a  rational  and  spiritual  nature.  Nothing  but  pure  mate- 
rialism can  suppose  that  the  elements  of  vital  and  spiritual 
being  were  included  in  the  matter  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  as  produced  in  the  beginning  ;  and  as  the  Scripture 
writers  were  not  materialists,  we  may  infer  that  they  recog- 
nized, in  the  introduction  of  life  and  reason,  acts  of  absolute 
creation,  just  as  in  the  origin  of  matter  itself  In  Genesis  ii. 
and  iii.  we  have  a  form  of  expression  which  well  marks  the  dis- 
tinction between  creation  and  making.  God  is  there  said  to 
have  rested  from  all  his  works  which  he  "  created  and  made  " 


TJie  Beginning.  91 

— literally,  created  ''  for  or  in  reference  to  making,"  the  word 
for  making  being  one  of  those  already  referred  to.*  The 
force  of  this  expression  consists  in  its  intimating  that  God 
had  not  only  finished  the  work  of  creation,  properly  so  called, 
but  also  the  elaboration  of  the  various  details  of  the  universe, 
as  formed  or  fashioned  out  of  the  original  materials.  Of  a 
similar  character  is  the  expression  in  Isaiah  xlii.,  5,  "  Jeho- 
vah, he  that  created  the  heavens  and  spread  them  out ;"  and 
that  in  Psalm  cxlviii.,  5,  "  He  commanded  and  they  were  cre- 
ated, he  hath  also  established  them  for  ever  and  ever." 

In  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  word  bara  in  all  the  remaining 
instances  of  its  occurrence  in  the  Pentateuch  refers  to  the 
creation  of  man,  with  the  following  exceptions  :  Exodus 
xxxiv.,  10,  "  I  will  do  (create)  marvels,  such  as  have  not 
been  seen  in  all  the  earth  ;"  Numbers  xvi.,  30,  "  If  the 
Lord  make  a  new  thing  (create  a  creation),  and  the  earth 
open  her  mouth  and  swallow  them  up."  These  verses  are 
types  of  a  class  of  expressions  in  which  the  proper  term  for 
creation  is  applied  to  the  production  of  something  new, 
strange,  and  marvellous  ;  for  instance,  "  Create  in  me  a 
clean  heart,  O  Lord;"  "Behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth."  It  is,  hov/ever,  evidently  an  inversion  of  sound 
exposition  to  say  that  these  secondary  or  figurative  mean- 
ings should  determine  the  primary  and  literal  sense  in  Gen- 
esis i.  On  the  contrary,  we  should  rather  infer  that  the 
sacred  writers  in  these  cases  selected  the  proper  word  for 
creation,  to  express  in  the  most  forcible  manner  the  novel 
and  thorough  character  of  the  changes  to  which  they  refer, 
and  their  direct  dependence  on  the  Divine  will.  By  such 
expressions  we  are  in  effect  referred  back  to  the  original  use 

*  Asah. 


92  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

of  the  word,  as  denoting  the  actual  creation  of  matter  by  the 
command  of  God,  in  contradistinction  from  those  arrange- 
ments which  have  been  effected  by  the  gradual  ojoeration  of 
secondary  agents,  or  of  laws  attached  to  matter  at  its  crea- 
tion. It  has  been  farther  observed*  that  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  this  word  bara  is  applied  to  God  only  as  an 
agent,  not  to  any  human  artificer  ;  a  fact  wdiich  is  very  im- 
portant with  reference  to  its  true  significance.  Viewing  cre- 
ation in  this  light,  we  need  not  perplex  ourselves  with  the 
question  whether  we  should  consider  Genesis  i.,  i,  to  refer 
to  the  essence  of  matter  as  distinguished  from  its  qualities. 
We  may  content  ourselves  with  the  explanation  given  by 
Paul  in  the  eleventh  of  Hebrews  :  "  By  faith  we  are  certain 
that  the  worldsf  were  created  by  the  decree  of  God,  so  that 
that  which  is  seen  was  made  of  that  which  aJ>J>ears  noL^^  Or, 
with  reference  to  the  other  uses  of  the  w-ord,  if  the  first  in- 
troduction of  animal  life  was  a  creation,  and  if  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  rational  nature  of  man  was  a  creation,  we  may 
suppose  that  the  original  creation  was  in  like  manner  the  in- 
troduction or  first  production  of  those  entities  which  we  call 
matter  and  force,  and  which  to  science  now  are  as  much  ulti- 
mate facts  as  they  were  to  Moses. 

The  fiature  of  the  act  of  creation  being  thus  settled,  its 
extent  may  be  ascertained  by  an  examination  of  the  terms 
heaven  and  earth. 

The  word  "  heavens "  {shamayim)  has  in  Hebrew  as  in 
English  a  variety  of  significations.  Of  material  heavens  there 
are,  in  the  quaint  language  of  Poole,  ^'■tres  regiones,  iihi  aves, 
nhi  niihes,  uM  sidera;'^  or  (i)  the  atmosphere  or  firmament  ;$ 

*  McDonald,  ''Creation  and  the  Fall." 

t  Literally,  "  ages  "  or  "  time-worlds,"  as  they  have  been  called. 

I  Genesis  i.,  8,  26-28. 


Tlie  Bezinnins'.  93 


'-<b  "'""■"'"i^' 


(2)  the  region  of  clouds  in  the  upper  part  of  the  atmosphere  ;* 

(3)  the  depths  of  space  comprehending  the  starry  orbs.f  Be- 
sides these  we  have  the  "heaven  of  heavens,"  the  abode  of  God 
and  spiritual  beings.l  The  application  of  the  term  "heav- 
en" to  the  atmosphere  will  be  considered  when  we  reach  the 
6th  and  7th  verses.  In  the  mean  tim.e  we  may  accept  the 
word  in  this  place  as  including  the  material  heavens  in  the 
widest  sense :  (i.)  Because  it  is  not  here,  as  in  verse  8th,  re- 
stricted to  the  atmosphere  by  the  terms  of  the  narrative;  this 
restriction  inverse  8th  in  fact  implying  the  wider  sense  of  the 
word  in  preceding  verses.  (2.)  Because  the  atmospheric  firma- 
ment, elsewhere  called  heaven,  divides  the  waters  above  from 
those  below,  whereas  it  is  evident  that  all  these  waters,  and  of 
consequence  the  materials  of  the  atmosphere  itself,  are  includ- 
ed in  the  earth  of  the  following  verse.  (3.)  Because  in  verse 
14th  the  sidereal  heavens  are  spoken  of  as  arranged  from 
pre-existing  materials,  which  refers  their  actual  creation  back 
to  this  passage. 

In  the  words  now  under  consideration  we  therefore  regard 
the  heavens  as  including  the  whole  material  universe  beyond 
the  limits  of  our  earth.  That  this  sense  of  the  word  is  not 
unknown  to  the  writers  of  Scripture,  and  that  they  had  en- 
larged and  rational  views  of  the  star-s^Dangled  abysses  of 
space,  will  appear  from  the  terms  employed  by  Moses  in  his 
solemn  warning  against  the  Saba^an  idolatry,  in  Deuteronomy 
iv.  :  "  And  lest  thou  lift  up  thine  eyes  to  the  heavens,  and 
when  thou  seest  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars,  even  all 
the  host  of  the  heavens,  shouldest  be  incited  to  worship  them 
and  serve  them  which  Jehovah  thy  God  hath  appointed  to  all 


*  Job  xxxviii.,  37.  t  Gen.  i.,  14  ;  Deut.  xvii.,  3. 

X  Gen.  xxviii.,  17  ;  Job  xv.,  15  ;  Tsa.  ii.,  4. 


94  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

nations  under  the  whole  heavens."  To  the  same  effect  is  the 
expression  of  the  awe  and  wonder  of  the  poet  king  of  Israel 
in  Psalm  viii. : 

"  When  I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
The  moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast  ordained; 
What  is  man  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?" 

I  may  observe,  however,  that  throughout  the  Scriptures  the 
word  in  question  is  much  more  frequently  apphed  to  the 
atmospheric  than  to  the  sidereal  heavens.  The  reason  of 
this  appears  in  the  terms  of  verse  8th. 

If  we  have  correctly  referred  the  term  "heavens"  to  the  whole 
of  extramundane  space,  then  the  word  "earth"  must  denote  our 
globe  as  a  distinct  world,  with  all  the  liquid  and  aeriform  sub- 
stances on  its  surface.  The  arrangement  of  the  wdiole  uni- 
verse under  the  heads  "heaven"  and  "earth"  has  been  derided 
as  a  division  into  "  infinity  and  an  atom  ;"  but  when  we  con- 
sider the  relative  importance  of  the  earth  to  us,  and  that  it 
constitutes  the  principal  object  of  the  whole  revelation  to 
which  this  is  introductory,  the  absurdity  disappears,  and  we 
recognize  the  classification  as  in  the  circumstances  natural 
and  rational.  The  word  "  earth  "  {areiz)  is,  however,  generally 
used  to  denote  the  dry  land,  or  even  a  region  or  district  of 
country.  It  is  indeed  expressly  restricted  to  the  dry  land  in 
verse  loth;  but  as  in  the  case  of  the  parallel  limitation  of  the 
word  "heaven,"  we  may  consider  this  as  a  hint  that  its  previous 
meaning  is  more  extended.  That  it  is  really  so,  appears  from 
the  following  considerations  :  (i.)  It  includes  the  deep,  or  the 
material  from  which  the  sea  and  atmosphere  were  afterwards 
formed.  (2.)  The  subsequent  verses  show  that  at  the  period 
in  question  no  dry  land  existed.  If  instances  of  a  similar 
meaning  from  other  parts  of  Scripture  are  required,  I  give 


The  Beginning.  95 

the  following  :  Genesis  ii.,  i  to  4,  "  Thus  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them  ;"  "these  are  the 
generations  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.'  In  this  general 
summary  of  the  creative  work,  the  earth  evidently  includes  the 
seas  and  all  that  is  in  them,  as  well  as  the  dry  land  ;  and  the 
whole  expression  denotes  the  universe.  The  well-known  and 
striking  remark  of  Job,  "  Who  hangeth  the  earth  upon  noth- 
ing," is  also  a  case  in  point,  and  must  refer  to  the  whole 
world,  since  in  other  parts  of  the  same  book  the  dry  land  or 
continental  masses  of  the  earth  are  said,  and  with  great  truth 
and  propriety,  to  be  supported  above  the  waters  on  pillars  or 
foundations.  The  following  passages  may  also  be  cited  as 
instances  of  the  occurrence  of  the  idea  of  the  whole  world 
expressed  by  the  word  "earth:"  Exodus  x.,  29,  "And  Moses 
said  unto  him.  As  soon  as  I  am  gone  out  of  the  city,  I  will 
spread  abroad  my  hands  unto  the  Lord,  and  the  thunder  shall 
cease,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  hail ;  that  thou  mayest 
know  the  earth  is  the  Lord's;"  Deuteronomy  x.,  14,"  Behold, 
the  heaven  and  the  heaven  of  heavens  is  the  Lord's,  the  earth 
also,  and  all  that  therein  is." 

The  material  universe  was  brought  into  existence  in  the 
"  beginning  " — a  term  evidently  indefinite  as  far  as  regards 
any  known  epoch,  and  implying  merely  priority  to  all  other 
recorded  events.  It  can  not  be  the  first  day,  for  there  is  no 
expressed  connection,  and  the  work  of  the  first  day  is  distinct 
from  that  of  the  beginning.  It  can  not  be  a  general  term  for 
the  whole  six  days,  since  these  are  separated  from  it  by  that 
chaotic  or  formless  state  to  which  we  are  next  introduced. 
The  beginning,  therefore,  is  the  threshold  of  creation — the 
line  that  separates  the  old  tenantless  condition  of  space  from 
the  world-crowded  galaxies  of  the  existing  universe.  The 
only  other  information  respecting  it  that  we  have  in  Scrip- 


96  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

ture  is  in  that  fine  descriptive  poem  in  Proverbs  viii.,  in 
which  the  Wisdom  of  God  personified — who  may  be  held  to 
represent  the  Almighty  Word,  or  Logos,  introduced  in  the 
formula  '^God  said/'  and  afterward  referred  to  in  Scrip- 
ture as  the  manifested  or  conditioned  Deity,  the  Mediator 
between  man  and  the  otherwise  inaccessible  Divinity,  the 
agent  in  the  work  of  creation  as  well  as  in  that  of  redemption 
— narrates  the  origin  of  all  created  things  : 

"Jehovah  possessed*  me,  the  beginning  of  his  way, 
Before  his  work  of  old. 
I  was  set  up  from  everlasting, 
From  the  beginning,  before  the  earth  was ; 
When  there  were  no  deeps  I  was  brought  forth, 
When  there  were  no  fountains  abounding  in  water." 

The  beginning  here  precedes  the  creation  of  the  earth,  as 
well  as  of  the  deep  which  encompassed  its  surface  in  its 
earliest  condition.  The  beginning,  in  this  point  of  view, 
stretches  back  from  the  origin  of  the  world  into  the  depths 
of  eternity.  It  is  to  us  emphatically  the  beginning,  because 
it  witnessed  the  birth  of  our  material  system  ;  but  to  the 
eternal  Jehovah  it  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  great  series  of 
his  operatioas,  and  we  have  no  information  of  its  absolute 
duration.  From  the  time  when  God  began  to  create  the 
celestial  orbs,  until  that  time  when  it  could  be  said  that  he 
had  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  countless  ages  may 
have  rolled  along,  and  myriads  of  worlds  may  have  passed 
through  various  stages  of  existence,  and  the  creation  of  our 
planetary  system  may  have  been  one  of  the  last  acts  of  that 
long  beginning. 

The  author  of  creation  is  Elohim,  or  God  in  his  general 

*  Not  "  created,"  as  some  read.     The  verb  is  kana,  not  hara. 


TJie  Beginning.  97 

aspect  to  nature  and  man,  and  not  in  that  special  aspect  in 
reference  to  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  and  to  the  work  of 
redemption  indicated  by  the  name  Jehovah  {lave/i).  We 
need  not  enter  into  the  doubtful  etymology  of  the  word ;  but 
may  content  ourselves  with  that  supported  by  many,  perhaps 
the  majority  of  authorities,  which  gives  it  the  meaning  of 
"  Object  of  dread  or  adoration,"  or  with  that  preferred  by 
Gesenius,  which  makes  it  mean  the  '•'  Strong  or  mighty  one." 
Its  plural  form  has  also  greatly  tried  the  ingenuity  of  the 
commentators.  After  carefully  considering  the  various  hy- 
potheses, such  as  that  of  the  plural  of  majesty  of  the  Rabbins, 
and  the  primitive  polytheism  supposed  by  certain  Rational- 
ists, I  can  see  no  better  reason  than  an  attempt  to  give  a 
grammatical  expression  to  that  plurality  in  unity  indicated 
by  the  appearance  of  the  Spirit  or  breath  of  God  and  his 
Word,  or  manifested  will  and  power,  as  distinct  agents  in  the 
succeeding  verses.  This  was  probably  always  held  by  the 
Hebrews  in  a  general  form ;  and  was  by  our  Saviour  and  his 
apostles  specialized  in  that  trinitarian  doctrine  which  enables 
both  John  and  Paul  explicitly  to  assert  the  agency  of  the 
second  person  of  the  Trinity  in  the  creative  work. 

This  elementary  trinitarian  idea  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  may  be  further  stated  thus  :  The  name  Elohim 
expresses  the  absolute  unconditioned  will  and  reason — the 
Godhead.  The  manifestation  of  God  in  creative  power, 
and  in  the  framing  and  ordering  of  the  cosmos,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  formula  "  God  said  " — the  equivalent  of  the 
Divine  Word.  The  further  manifestation  of  God  in  love 
of  and  sympathy  with  his  work  is  represented  by  the  Breath 
of  God,  and  by  the  expression,  "God  saw  that  it  was  good" 
— operations  these  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

The  aboriginal  root  of  the  word  Elohink  probably  lies  far 

E 


98  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 

back  of  the  Semitic  literature,  and  comes  from  the  natural 
exclamations  "al,"  "lo,"  "la,"  which  arise  from  the  sponta- 
neous action  of  the  human  vocal  organs  in  the  presence  of 
any  object  of  awe  or  wonder.  The  plural  form  may  in  like 
manner  be  simply  equivalent  to  our  terms  Godhead  or  Divin- 
ity, implying  all  that  is  essentially  God  without  specification 
or  distinction  of  personalities.  As  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis  well  re- 
marks in  his  "Introduction  to  Genesis,"  we  should  not  dis- 
miss such  plurals  as  mere  iistis  loquendi.  The  plural  form 
of  the  name  of  God,  of  the  heavens  (literally,  the  "heights"), 
of  the  olamifii^  or  time-worlds,  of  the  word  for  life  in  Genesis 
(lives),  indicates  an  idea  of  vastness  and  diversity  not  meas- 
urable by  speech,  which  must  have  been  impressed  on  the 
minds  of  early  men,  otherwise  these  forms  would  not  have 
arisen.  God,  heaven,  time,  life,  were  to  them  existences 
stretching  outward  to  infinity,  and  not  to  be  denoted  by  the 
bare  singular  form  suitable  to  ordinary  objects. 

Fairly  regarding,  then,  this  ancient  form  of  words,  we  may 
hold  it  as  a  clear,  concise,  and  accurate  enunciation  of  an 
ultimate  doctrine  of  the  origin  of  things,  which  with  all  our 
increased  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  earth  w^e  are  not 
in  a  position  to  replace  with  any  thing  better  or  more  prob- 
able. On  the  other  hand,  this  sublime  dogma  of  creation 
leaves  us  perfectly  free  to  interrogate  nature  for  ourselves,  as 
to  all  that  it  can  reveal  of  the  duration  and  progress  of  the 
creative  work.  But  the  positive  gain  which  comes  from  this 
ancient  formula  goes  i\ir  beyond  these  negative  qualities. 
If  received,  this  one  word  of  the  Old  Testament  is  sufficient  to 
deliver  us  forever  from  the  superstitious  dread  of  nature,  and 
to  present  it  to  us  as  neither  self-existent  nor  omnipotent, 
but  as  the  mere  handiwork  of  a  spiritual  Creator  to  whom  we 
are  kin ;  as  not  a  product  of  chance  or  caprice,  but  as  the 


The  Beginning.  99 

result  of  a  definite  plan  of  the  All-wise;  as  not  a  congeries  of 
unconnected  facts  and  processes,  but  as  a  cosmos,  a  \Yell- 
ordered  though  complex  machine,  designed  by  Him  who  is 
the  Almighty  and  the  supreme  object  of  reverence.  Had 
this  verse  alone  constituted  the  whole  Bible,  this  one  utter- 
ance would,  wherever  known  and  received,  have  been  an 
inestimable  boon  to  mankind  ;  proclaiming  deliverance  to 
the  captives  of  every  form  of  nature-worship  and  idolatry,  and 
fixing  that  idea  of  unity  of  plan  in  the  universe  which  is  the 
fruitful  and  stable  root  of  all  true  progress  in  science.  We 
owe  profound  thanks  to  the  old  Hebrew  prophet  for  these 
words — words  which  have  broken  from  the  necks  of  once 
superstitious  Aryan  races  chains  more  galling  than  those  of 
Egyptian  bondage. 


100  The  Origin  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    DESOLATE    VOID. 

"And  the  earth  ^Yas  desolate  and  empty,  and  darkness  was  upon  the 
surface  of  the  deep ;  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  on  the  surface  of  the 
waters." — Genesis  i.,  2. 

We  have  here  a  few  bold  outlines  of  a  dark  and  mysterious 
scene — a  condition  of  the  earth  of  which  we  have  no  certain 
intimation  from  any  other  source,  except  the  speculations 
based  on  modern  discoveries  in  physical  science.  It  was 
"  unshaped  and  empty,"  formless  and  uninhabited.  The 
words  thus  translated  are  sufficiently  plain  in  their  meaning. 
The  first  is  used  by  Isaiah  to  denote  the  desolation  of  a  ruin- 
ed city,  and  in  Job  and  the  Psalms  as  characteristic  of  the 
wilderness  or  desert.  Both  in  connection  are  employed  by 
Isaiah  to  express  the  destruction  of  Idumea,  and  by  Jeremiah 
in  a  powerful  description  of  the  ruin  of  nations  by  God's  judg- 
ments. When  thus  united,  they  form  the  strongest  expression 
which  the  Hebrew  could  supply  for  solitary,  uninhabited  des- 
olation, like  that  of  a  city  reduced  to  heaps  of  rubbish,  and 
to  the  silence  and  loneliness  of  utter  decay. 

In  the  present  connection  these  words  inform  us  that  the 
earth  was  in  a  chaotic  state,  and  unfit  for  the  residence  of 
organized  beings.  The  words  themselves  suggest  the  impor- 
tant question :  Are  they  intended  to  represent  this  as  the 
original  condition  of  the  earth?  Was  it  a  scene  of  desolation 
and  confusion  when  it  sprang  from  the  hand  of  its  Creator  ? 


The  Desolate  Void.  loi 

or  was  this  state  of  ruin  consequent  on  convulsions  which 
may  have  been  preceded  by  a  very  different  condition,  not 
mentioned  by  the  inspired  historian  ?  That  it  may  have  been 
so  is  rendered  possible  by  the  circumstance  that  the  words 
employed  are  generally  used  to  denote  the  ruin  of  places 
formerly  inhabited,  and  by  the  want  of  any  necessary  connec- 
tion in  time  between  the  first  and  second  verses.  It  has  even 
been  proposed,  though  this  does  violence  to  the  construction, 
to  read  "and  the  earth  became"  desolate  and  empty.  Far- 
ther, it  seems,  a  priori,  improbable  that  the  first  act  of  crea- 
tive power  should  have  resulted  in  the  production  of  a  mere 
chaos.  The  crust  of  the  earth  also  shows,  in  its  alternations 
of  strata  and  organic  remains,  evidence  of  a  great  series  of 
changes  extending  over  vast  periods,  and  which  might,  in  a 
revelation  intended  for  moral  purposes,  with  great  propriety 
be  omitted. 

For  such  reasons  some  eminent  expositors  of  these  words 
are  disposed  to  consider  the  first  verse  as  a  title  or  introduc- 
tion, and  to  refer  to  this  period  the  whole  series  of  geological 
changes ;  and  this  view  has  formed  one  of  the  most  popular 
solutions  of  the  apparent  discrepancies  between  the  geological 
and  Scriptural  histories  of  the  world.  It  is  evident,  however, 
that  if  we  continue  to  view  the  term  "earth"  as  including  the 
whole  globe,  this  hypothesis  becomes  altogether  untenable. 
The  subsequent  verses  inform  us  that  at  the  period  in  question 
the  earth  was  covered  by  a  universal  ocean,  possessed  no  at- 
mosphere and  received  no  light,  and  had  not  entered  into  its 
present  relations  with  the  other  bodies  of  our  system.  No 
conceivable  convulsions  could  have  effected  such  changes  on 
an  earth  previously  possessing  these  arrangements ;  and  ge- 
ology assures  us  that  the  existing  laws  and  dispositions  in 
these  respects  have  prevailed  from  the  earliest  periods  to 


102  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

which  it  can  lead  us  back,  and  that  the  modern  state  of 
things  was  not  separated  from  those  which  preceded  it  by  any- 
such  general  chaos.  To  avoid  this  difficulty,  which  has  been 
much  more  strongly  felt  as  these  facts  have  been  more  and 
more  clearly  developed  by  modern  science,  it  has  been  held 
that  the  word  earth  may  denote  only  a  particular  region, 
temporarily  obscured  and  reduced  to  ruin,  and  about  to  be 
fitted  up,  by  the  operations  of  the  six  days,  for  the  residence 
of  man ;  and  that  consequently  the  narrative  of  the  six  days 
refers  not  to  the  original  arrangement  of  the  surface,  rela- 
tions, and  inhabitants  of  our  planet,  but  to  the  retrieval  from 
ruin  and  repeopling  of  a  limited  territory,  supposed  to  have 
been  in  Central  Asia,  and  which  had  been  submerged  and  its 
atmosphere  obscured  by  aqueous  or  volcanic  vapors.  The 
chief  support  of  this  view  is  the  fact,  previously  noticed,  that 
the  word  earth  is  very  frequently  used  in  the  signification  of 
region,  district,  country;  to  which  may  be  added  the  supposed 
necessity  for  harmonizing  the  Scriptures  with  geological  dis- 
covery, and  at  the  same  time  viewing  the  days  of  creation  as 
literal  solar  days. 

Can  we,  however,  after  finding  that  in  verse  ist  the  term 
earth  must  mean  the  whole  world,  suddenly  restrict  it  in  verse 
2d  to  a  limited  region.  Is  it  possible  that  the  writer  who 
in  verse  loth  for  the  first  time  intimates  a  limitation  of  the 
meaning  of  this  word,  by  the  solemn  announcement,  "And 
God  called  the  dry  land  earth,"  should  in  a  previous  place  use 
it  in  a  much  more  limited  sense  without  any  hint  of  such  re- 
striction. The  case  stands  thus :  A  writer  uses  the  word 
earth  in  the  most  general  sense ;  in  the  next  sentence  he  is 
supposed,  without  any  intimation  of  his  intention,  to  use  the 
same  w^ord  to  denote  a  region  or  country',  and  by  so  doing 
entirely  to  change  the  meaning  of  his  whole  discourse  from 


TIlc  Desolate  Void.  103 

that  which  would  otherwise  have  attached  to  it.  Yet  the 
same  writer  when,  a  few  sentences  farther  on,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  him  to  use  the  word  earth  to  denote  the  dry 
land  as  distinguished  from  the  seas,  formally  and  with  an  as- 
sertion of  divine  authority,  intimates  the  change  of  meaning. 
Is  not  this  supposition  contrary  not  only  to  sound  principles 
of  interpretation,  but  also  to  common -sense;  and  would  it 
not  tend  to  render  worthless  the  testimony  of  a  writer  to 
whose  diction  such  inaccuracy  must  be  ascribed.  It  is  in 
truth  to  me  surprising  beyond  measure  that  such  a  view  could 
ever  have  obtained  currency ;  and  I  fear  it  is  to  be  attributed 
to  a  determination,  at  all  hazards  and  with  any  amount  of 
violence  to  the  written  record,  to  make  geology  and  religion 
coincide.  Must  we  then  throw  aside  this  simple  and  con- 
venient method  of  reconciliation,  sanctioned  by  Chalmers, 
Smith,  Harris,  King,  Hitchcock,  and  many  other  great  or  re- 
spectable names,  and  on  which  so  many  good  men  compla- 
cently rest.  Truth  obliges  us  to  do  so,  and  to  confess  that 
both  geology  and  Scripture  refuse  to  be  reconciled  on  this 
basis.  We  may  still  admit  that  the  lapse  of  time  between 
the  beginning  and  the  first  day  may  have  been  great ;  but  we 
must  emphatically  deny  that  this  interval  corresponds  with 
the  time  indicated  by  the  series  of  fossiliferous  rocks. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  I  may  remark  that 
the  desolate  and  empty  condition  of  the  earth  was  not  neces- 
sarily a  chaotic  mass  of  confusion — 7'iidis  indigestaque  moles; 
but  in  reality,  when  physically  considered,  may  have  been  a 
more  symmetrical  and  homogeneous  condition  than  any  that 
it  subsequently  assumed.  If  the  earth  were  first  a  vast  globe 
of  vapor,  then  a  liquid  spheroid,  and  then  acquired  a  crust 
not  yet  seamed  by  fissures  or  broken  by  corrugations,  and 
eventually  covered  with  a  universal  ocean,  then  in  each  of 


104  T^^^^  Origin  of  the  World. 

s 

these  early  conditions  it  would,  in  regard  to  its  form,  be  a 
more  perfect  globe  than  at  any  succeeding  time.  That  some- 
thing of  this  kind  is  the  intention  of  our  historian  is  implied 
in  his  subsequent  statements  as  to  the  absence  of  land  and 
the  prevalence  of  a  universal  ocean  in  the  immediately  suc- 
ceeding period,  which  imply  that  the  crust  had  not  yet  been 
ruptured  or  disturbed,  but  presented  an  even  and  uniform 
surface,  no  part  of  which  could  project  above  the  compara- 
tively thin  fluid  envelope. 

The  second  clause  introduces  a  new  object — " ///^  decpy 
Whatever  its  precise  nature,  this  is  evidently  something  in- 
cluded in  the  earth  of  verse  ist,  and  created  with  it.  The 
word  occurs  in  other  parts  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in  vari- 
ous senses.  It  often  denotes  the  sea,  especially  when  in  an 
agitated  state  (Psa.  xlii.,  8 ;  Job  xxxviii.,  lo).  In  Psalm  cxxxv., 
however,  it  is  distinguished  from  the  sea  :  "  Whatsoever  the 
Lord  pleased,  that  did  he  in  heaven,  in  the  earth,  in  the 
seas,  and  i7i  all  deepsT  In  other  cases  it  has  been  supposed 
to  refer  to  interior  recesses  of  the  earth,  as  when  at  the  del- 
uge "the  fountains  of  the  great  deep"  are  said  to  have  been 
broken  up.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  this  refers  to  the 
ocean.  In  some  places  it  would  appear  to  mean  the  atmos- 
phere or  its  waters;  as  Prov.viii., 27-29,  "When  he  prepared 
the  heavens,  I  was  there ;  when  he  described  a  circle  on 
the  face  of  the  deep,  when  he  established  the  clouds  above, 
when  he  strengthened  the  fountains  of  the  deep."  The  Sep- 
tuagint  in  this  passage  reads  "throne  on  the  winds"  and 
"  fountains  under  the  heaven."*  Though  we  can  not  attach 
much  value  to  these  readings,  there  seems  little  reason  to 
doubt  that  the   author  of  this  passage  understands  by  the 

*  The  usual  Septuagint  rendering  is  Ahyssjts. 


The  Desolate  Void,  105 

deep  the  atmospheric  waters,  and  not  the  sea,  which  he  men- 
tions separately.  The  same  meaning  must  be  attached  to 
the  word  in  another  passage  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs : 
"  The  Lord  in  wisdom  hath  founded  the  earth,  by  under- 
standing hath  he  estabhshed  the  heavens ;  by  his  knowl- 
edge the  depths  are  broken  up,  and  the  clouds  drop  down 
the  small  rain." 

In  the  passage  now  under  consideration,  it  would  seem 
that  we  have  both  the  deep  and  the  waters  mentioned,  and 
this  not  in  a  way  which  would  lead  us  to  infer  their  identity. 
The  darkness  on  the  surface  of  the  deep  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  on  tlie  face  of  the  waters  seem  to  refer  to  the  condition 
of  two  distinct  objects  at  the  same  time.  Neither  can  the 
word  here  refer  to  subterranean  cavities,  for  the  ascription  of 
a  surface  to  these,  and  the  statement  that  they  were  enveloped 
in  darkness,  would  in  this  case  have  neither  meaning  nor  use. 
For  these  reasons  I  am  induced  to  believe  that  the  locality 
of  the  deep  or  abyss  is  to  be  sought,  not  in  the  universal 
ocean  or  the  interior  of  the  earth,  but  in  the  vaporous  or  aeri- 
form mass  mantling  the  surface  of  our  nascent  planet,  and 
containing  the  materials  out  of  which  the  atmosphere  was 
afterward  elaborated.  This  is  a  view  leading  to  important 
consequences  :  one  of  which  is  that  the  darkness  on  the 
surface  of  the  deep  can  not  have  been,  as  believed  by  the 
advocates  of  a  local  chaos,  a  mere  atmospheric  obscura- 
tion ;  since  even  at  the  surface  of  what  then  represented  the 
atmosphere  darkness  prevailed.  "  God  covered  the  earth 
with  the  deep  as  with  a  garment,  and  the  waters  stood  above 
the  hills,"  and  without  this  outer  garment  was  the  darkness 
of  space  destitute  of  luminaries,  at  least  of  those  greater  ones 
which  are  of  primary  importance  to  us.  We  learn  from  the 
following  verses  that  there  was  no  layer  of  clear  atmosphere 

E  2 


io6  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

in  this  misty  deep,  separating  the  clouds  from  the  ocean 
waters. 

The  last  clause  of  the  verse  has  always  been  obscure,  and 
perhaps  it  is  still  impossible  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  the  oper- 
ation intended  to  be  described.  We  are  not  even  certain 
whether  it  is  intended  to  represent  any  thing  within  the  com- 
pass of  ordinary  natural  laws,  or  to  denote  a  direct  interven- 
tion of  the  Creator,  miraculous  in  its  nature  and  confined  to 
one  period.  It  is  possible  that  the  general  intention  of  the 
statement  may  be  to  the  effect  that  the  agency  of  the  divine 
power  in  separating  the  waters  from  the  incumbent  vapors 
had  already  commenced — that  the  Spirit  which  would  after- 
ward evoke  so  many  wonders  out  of  the  chaotic  mass  was 
already  acting  upon  it  in  an  unseen  and  mysterious  way,  pre- 
paring it  for  its  future  destiny. 

Some  commentators,  both  Jewish  and  Christian,  are,  how- 
ever, disposed  to  view  the  Riiach  EloJwn,  Spirit,  or  breath  of 
God,  as  meaning  a  wind  of  God,  or  mighty  wind,  according  to 
a  well-known  Hebrew  idiom.  The  word  in  its  primary  sense 
means  wind  or  breath,  and  there  are  undoubted  instances  of 
the  expression  "wind  of  God"  for  a  great  or  strong  wind. 
For  example,  Isaiah  xl.,  7  :  "  The  grass  withereth  because 
the  wind  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it;"  see  also  2  Kings 
ii.,  16.  Such  examples,  how^ever,  are  very  rare,  and  by  no 
means  sufficient  of  themselves  to  establish  this  interpretation. 
Those  who  hold  this  view  do  so  mainly  in  consideration  of 
the  advantage  which  it  affords  in  attaching  a  definite  meaning 
to  the  expression.  Many  of  them  are  not,  however,  aware  of 
its  precise  import  in  a  cosmical  point  of  view.  A  violent 
wind,  before  the  formation  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  laws  which  regulate  the  suspension  and  mo- 
tions of  aqueous  vapors  and  clouds,  must  have  been  merely 


The  Desolate  Void.  107 

an  agitation  of  the  confused  misty  and  vaporous  mass  of  the 
deep  ;  since,  as  Ainsworth — more  careful  than  modern  inter- 
preters— long  ago  observed,  "  winde  (which  is  the  moving  of 
the  aier)  was  not  created  till  the  second  day,  that  the  firma- 
ment was  spred,  and  the  aier  made."  Such  an  agitation  is  by 
no  means  improbable.  It  would  be  a  very  likely  accompani- 
ment of  a  boiling  ocean,  resting  on  a  heated  surface,  and  of 
excessive  condensation  of  moisture  in  the  upper  regions  of  the 
atmosphere;  and  might  act  as  an  influential  means  of  pre- 
paring the  earth  for  the  operations  of  the  second  day.  It  is 
curious  also  that  the  Phoenician  cosmogony  is  said  to  have 
contained  the  idea  of  a  mighty  wind  in  connection  with  this 
part  of  creation,  and  the  idea  of  seething  or  commotion  in  the 
primitive  chaos  also  occurs  in  the  Assyrian  tablets  of  crea- 
tion, while  the  Quiche  legend  represents  Hurakon,  the  storm- 
god,  as  specially  concerned  in  the  creative  work.*  On  the 
other  hand,  the  verb  used  in  the  text  rather  expresses  hover- 
ing or  brooding  than  violent  motion,  and  this  better  corre- 
sponds with  the  old  fable  of  the  mundane  ^gg^  which  seems 
to  have  been  derived  from  the  event  recorded  in  this  verse. 
The  more  evangelical  view,  which  supposes  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  be  intended,  is  also  more  in  accordance  with  the  general 
scope  of  the  Scripture  teachings  on  this  subject;  and  the 
opposite  idea  is,  as  Calvin  well  says,  "  too  frigid"  to  meet  with 
much  favor  from  evangelical  theologians. 

Chaos,  the  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  "  desolation  and 
emptiness,"  figures  largely  in  all  ancient  cosmogonies.  That 
of  the  Egyptians  is  interesting,  not  only  from  its  resemblance 
to  the  Hebrew  doctrine,  but  also  from  its  probable  connec- 


*  Smith,  "Assyrian  Genesis."    Brasseur  de  Eourbourg's  translation  of 
the  "Popol  Vuh"  of  the  ancient  Central  American  Indians. 


io8  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

tion  with  the  cosmogony  of  the  Greeks.  Taking  the  version 
of  Diodorus  Siculus,  which  though  comparatively  modern,  yet 
corresponds  with  the  hints  derived  from  older  sources,  we 
find  the  original  chaos  to  have  been  an  intermingled  condi- 
tion of  elements  constituting  heaven  and  earth.  This  is  the 
Hebrew  "  deep."  The  first  step  of  progress  is  the  separation 
of  these  ;  the  fiery  particles  ascending  above,  and  not  only 
producing  light,  but  the  revolution  of  the  heavenly  bodies — a 
curious  foreshadowing  of  the  nebular  hypothesis  of  modern 
astronomy.  After  these,  in  the  terms  of  the  lines  quoted  by 
Diodorus  from  Euripides,  plants,  birds,  mammals,  and  finally 
man  are  produced,  not  however  by  a  direct  creative  fiat,  but 
by  the  spontaneous  fecundity  of  the  teeming  earth.  The 
Phcenician  cosmogony  attributed  to  Sancuniathon  has  the 
void,  the  deep,  and  the  brooding  Spirit;  and  one  of  the  terms 
employed,  "  baau,"  is  the  same  with  the  Hebrew  "  bohu," 
void,  if  read  without  the  points.  The  Babylonians,  according 
to  Berosus,  believed  in  a  chaos — which,  however,  like  the  lit- 
eral-day theory  of  some  moderns,  produced  many  monsters  be- 
fore Belus  intervened  to  separate  heaven  and  earth.  But  the 
Assyrian  legend  found  in  the  Nineveh  tablets  is  very  precise 
in  its  intimation  of  the  Chaos  or  Tiamat,  the  mother  of  all 
things ;  and,  farther,  it  recognizes  this  personified  chaos  as 
the  principle  of  evil,  whose  "  dragon  "  becomes  the  tempter 
of  the  progenitors  of  mankind,  exactly  like  the  Biblical  ser- 
pent. This  "  dragon  of  the  abyss  "  is  thus  identical  in  name 
and  function  with  the  evil  principle  even  of  the  last  book  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  we  have  in  this  also  probably  the  origin 
of  the  Ahriman  of  the  Avesta.  Thus  in  these  Eastern  theolo- 
gies the  primeval  chaos  becomes  the  type  of  evil  as  opposed 
to  the  order,  beauty,  and  goodness  of  the  creation  of  God — a 
very  natural  association ;  but  one  kept  in  the  background  by 


The  Desolate  Void.  109 

the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  as  tending  to  a  dualistic  belief  sub- 
versive of  monotheism.  The  Greek  m3-th  of  Chaos,  and  its 
children  Erebus  and  Night,  who  give  birth  to  Aether  and 
Day,  is  the  same  tradition,  personified  after  the  flinciful  man- 
ner of  a  people  who,  in  the  primitive  period  of  their  civiliza- 
tion, had  no  profound  appreciation  of  nature,  but  were  full  of 
Innnan  sympathies.*     Lastly,  in  a  hymn  translated  by  Dr. 

*  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  recognizing  in  the  Greek  Theogon}',  as  it  ap- 
pears in  Ilesiod  and  the  Orphic  poems,  an  inextricable  intermingling  of  a 
cosmogony  akin  to  that  of  Moses  with  legendary  stories  of  deceased  an- 
cestors ;  and  this  has,  I  must  confess,  always  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  more 
rational  way  of  accounting  for  it  than  its  reference  to  mere  nature-myths. 
Chaos,  or  space,  for  the  chaos  of  Hesiod  differs  from  that  of  Ovid,  came 
first,  then  Gaea,  the  earth,  and  Tartarus,  or  the  lower  world.  Chaos  gave 
birth  to  Erebos  (identical  with  the  Hebrew  Ereb  or  Erev,  evening)  and 
Nyx,  or  night.  These  again  give  birth  to  Aether,  the  equivalent  of  the 
Hebrew  expanse  or  firmament,  and  to  Hemera,  the  day,  and  then  the 
heavenly  bodies  were  perfected.  So  far  the  legend  is  apparently  based 
on  some  primitive  history  of  creation,  not  essentially  different  from  that 
of  the  Bible.  Eut  the  Greek  Theogony  here  skips  suddenly  to  the  hu- 
man period  ;  and  under  the  fables  of  the  marriage  of  Gaea  and  Uranos, 
and  the  Titans,  appears  to  present  to  us  the  antediluvian  world,  with  its 
intermarriages  of  the  sons  of  God  and  men,  and  its  Nephelim  or  Giants, 
with  their  mechanic  arts  and  their  crimes.  Beyond  this,  in  Kronos  and 
his  three  sons,  and  in  the  strange  history  of  Zeus,  the  chief  of  these,  w'e 
have  a  coarse  and  fanciful  version  of  the  story  of  the  family  of  Noah,  the 
insult  offered  by  Ham  to  his  father,  and  the  subsequent  quarrels  and  dis- 
persion of  mankind.  The  Zeus  of  Homer  appears  to  be  the  elder  of  the 
three,  or  Japheth,  the  real  father  of  the  Greeks,  according  to  the  Bible ;  but 
in  the  time  of  Hesiod  Zeus  was  the  youngest,  perhaps  indicating  that  the 
worship  of  the  Egyptian  Zeus,  Amnion  or  Ham,  had  already  supplanted 
among  the  Greeks  that  of  their  own  ancestor.  But  it  is  curious  that  even 
in  the  Bible,  though  Japhet  is  said  to  be  the  greater,  he  is  placed  last  in 
the  lists.  After  the  introduction  of  Greek  savans  and  literati  to  Egypt, 
about  B.C.  660,  they  began  to  regard  their  own  mythology  from  this  point 
of  view,  though  obliged  to  be  reserved  on  the  subject.  The  cosmology  of 
Thales,  the  astronomy  of  Anaxagoras,  and  the  history  of  Herodotus  afford 
early  evidence  of  this,  and  it  abounds  in  later  writers.  I  may  refer  the 
reader  to  Grote  (History  of  Greece,  vol.  i.)  for  an  able  and  agreeable  sum- 


no  TJie  Origin  of  tJie  World, 

Max  Miiller  from  the  Rig- Veda,  a  work  probably  far  older 
than  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  we  have  such  utterances  as  the 
following : 

"  Nor  aught  nor  nought  existed  :  yon  bright  sky 
Was  not,  nor  heaven's  broad  woof  outstretched  above. 
What  covered  all  ?  what  sheltered  ?  what  concealed  ? 
Was  it  the  water's  fathomless  abyss  ?  *  *  * 
Darkness  there  was,  and  all  at  first  was  veiled 
In  gloom  profound — an  ocean  without  light ; 
The  germ  that  still  lay  covered  in  the  husk 
Burst  forth,  one  nature,  from  the  fervent  heat." 

It  is  evident  that  the  state  of  our  planet  which  we  have  just 
been  considering  is  one  of  which  we  can  scarcely  form  any 
adequate  conception,  and  science  can  in  no  way  aid  us,  ex- 
cept by  suggesting  hypotheses  or  conjectures.  It  is  remark- 
able, however,  that  nearly  all  the  cosmological  theories  which 
have  been  devised  contain  some  of  the  elements  of  the  in- 
spired narrative.  The  words  of  Moses  appear  to  suggest  a 
heated  and  cooling  globe,  its  crust  as  yet  unbroken  by  inter- 
nal forces,  covered  by  a  universal  ocean,  on  which  rested  a 
mass  of  confused  vaporous  substances  ;  and  it  is  of  such  ma- 
terials, thus  combined  by  the  sacred  historian,  that  cosmolo- 
gists  have  built  up  their  several  theories,  aqueous  or  igneous, 
of  the  early  state  of  the  earth.     Geology,  as  a  science  of  ob- 

mary  of  this  subject ;  and  inay  add  that  even  the  few  coincidences  above 
pointed  out  between  Greek  mythology  and  the  Bible,  independently  of  the 
multitudes  of  more  doubtful  character  to  be  found  in  the  older  writers  on 
this  subject,  appear  very  wonderful,  when  we  consider  that  among  the 
Greeks  these  vestiges  of  primitive  religion,  whether  brought  with  them 
from  the  East  or  received  from  abroad,  must  have  been  handed  down  for 
a  long  time  by  oral  tradition  among  the  people  ;  but  obscure  though  they 
may  be,  the  circumstance  that  some  old  writers  have  ridden  the  resem- 
blances to  death  affords  no  excuse  for  the  prevailing  neglect  of  them 
in  more  modern  times. 


The  Desolate  Void.  1 1 1 

servation  and  induction,  does  not  carry  us  back  to  this  period. 
It  must  still  and  always  say,  with  Hutton,that  it  can  find  "no 
trace  of  a  beginning,  no  prospect  of  an  end  " — not  because 
there  has  been  no  beginning  or  will  be  no  end,  but  because 
the  facts  which  it  collects  extend  neither  to  the  one  nor  the 
other.  Geology,  like  every  other  department  of  natural  his- 
tory, can  but  investigate  the  facts  which  are  open  to  observa- 
tion, and  reason  on  these  in  accordance  with  the  known  laws 
and  arransfements  of  existin2:  nature.  It  finds  these  laws  to 
hold  for  the  oldest  period  to  which  the  rocky  archives  of  the 
earth  extend.  Respecting  the  origin  of  these  general  laws 
and  arrangements,  or  the  condition  of  the  earth  before  they 
originated,  it  knows  nothing.  In  like  manner  a  botanist 
may  determine  the  age  of  a  forest  by  counting  the  growth 
rings  of  the  oldest  trees,  but  he  can  tell  nothing  of  the  forests 
that  may  have  preceded  it,  or  of  the  condition  of  the  surface 
before  it  supported  a  forest.  So  the  archceologist  may  on 
Egyptian  monuments  read  the  names  and  history  of  succes- 
sive dynasties  of  kings,  but  he  can  tell  nothing  of  the  state 
of  the  country  and  its  native  tribes  before  those  dynasties 
began  or  their  monuments  were  built.  Yet  geology  at  least 
establishes  a  probability  that  a  time  was  when  organized  be- 
ings did  not  exist,  and  when  many  of  the  arrangements  of  the 
surface  of  our  earth  had  not  been  perfected  ;  and  the  few 
facts  which  have  given  birth  to  the  theories  promulgated  on 
this  subject  tend  to  show  that  this  pre-geological  condition 
of  the  earth  may  have  been  such  as  that  described  in  the 
words  now  under  consideration.  I  may  remark,  in  addi- 
tion, that  if  the  words  of  Moses  imply  the  cooling  of  the 
globe  from  a  molten  or  intensely  heated  state  down  to  a 
temperature  at  which  water  could  exist  on  its  surface,  the 
known  rate  of  cooling  of  bodies  of  the  dimensions  and  mate- 


112  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

rials  of  the  earth  shows  that  the  time  inckided  in  these  two 
verses  of  Genesis  must  have  been  enormous,  amounting  it 
may  be  to  many  milUons  of  years. 

There  are  two  other  sciences  besides  geology  which  have 
in  modern  times  attempted  to  penetrate  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  primitive  abyss,  at  least  by  hypothetical  explanations — as- 
tronomy and  chemistry.  The  magnificent  nebular  hypothesis 
of  La  Place,  which  explains  the  formation  of  the  whole  solar 
system  by  the  condensation  of  a  revolving  mass  of  gaseous 
matter,  would  manifestly  bring  our  earth  to  the  condition  of  a 
fluid  body,  with  or  without  a  solid  crust,  and  surrounded  by  a 
huge  atmosphere  of  its  more  volatile  materials,  gradually  con- 
densing itself  around  the  central  nucleus.  Chemistry  informs 
us  that  this  vaporous  mass  would  contain  not  only  the  atmos- 
pheric air  and  water,  but  all  the  carbon,  sulphur,  phosphor- 
us, chlorine,  and  other  elements,  volatile  in  themselves,  or 
forming  volatile  compounds  with  oxygen  or  hydrogen,  that 
are  now  imprisoned  in  various  states  of  combination  in  the 
solid  crust  of  the  earth.  Such  an  atmosphere — vast,  dark, 
pestilential,  and  capable  in  its  condensation  of  producing  the 
most  intense  chemical  action — is  a  necessity  of  an  earth  con- 
densing from  a  vaporous  and  incandescent  state.  Thus,  in 
so  far  as  scientific  speculation  ventures  to  penetrate  into  the 
genesis  of  the  earth,  its  conclusions  are  at  one  with  the  Mo- 
saic cosmogony  and  with  the  traditions  of  most  ancient  na- 
tions as  to  the  primitive  existence  of  a  chaos — formless  and 
void,  in  which  "nor  aught  nor  nought  existed." 

Some  of  the  details  of  the  Mosaic  vision  of  the  primeval 
chaos  may  be  supplied  by  the  probabilities  established  by 
physics  and  chemistry.  Our  first  idea  of  the  earth  would  be  a 
vast  vaporous  ball,  recently  spun  out  from  the  general  mass  of 
vapors  forming  the  nebula  which  once  represented  the  solar 


TJic  Desolate  Void.  1 1 3 

system.  This  huge  cloud,  whirling  its  annual  round  about 
the  still  vaporous  centre  of  the  system,  \Yould  consist  of  all 
the  materials  now  constituting  the  solid  rocks  as  well  as  those 
of  the  seas  and  atmosphere,  their  atoms  kept  asunder  by  the 
force  of  heat,  preventing  not  only  their  mechanical  union,  but 
even  their  chemical  combination.  But  heat  is  beins:  radiated 
on  all  sides  into  sjDace,  and  the  opposing  force  of  gravitation 
is  little  by  little  gathering  the  particles  toward  the  centre.  At 
length  a  liquid  nucleus  is  formed,  while  upon  this  are  being 
precipitated  showers  of  condensing  matter  from  the  still  vast 
atmosphere  to  add  to  its  volume.  As  this  process  advances, 
a  new  brilliancy  is  given  to  the  feebly  shining  vapors  by  the 
incandescence  of  solid  particles  in  the  upper  layers  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  in  this  stage  our  earth  would  be  a  little  sun,  a 
miniature  of  that  which  now  forms  the  centre  of  our  system, 
and  which  still,  by  virtue  of  its  greater  mass,  continues  in  this 
state.  But  at  length,  by  further  cooling,  this  brilliancy  is  lost, 
and  the  still  fluid  globe  is  surrounded  by  a  vast  cloudy  pall, 
in  which  condensing  vapors  gather  in  huge  dark  masses,  and 
amid  terrible  electrical  explosions,  pour,  in  constantly  increas- 
ing, acid,  corrosive  rains,  upon  the  heated  nucleus,  combining 
with  its  materials,  or  again  flashing  into  vapors.  Thus  dark- 
ness dense  and  gross  would  settle  upon  the  vaporous  deep, 
and  would  continue  for  long  ages,  until  the  atmosphere  could 
be  finally  cleared  of  its  superfluous  vapors.  In  the  mean 
time  a  crust  of  slag  or  cinder  has  been  forming  upon  the 
molten  nucleus.  Broken  again  and  again  by  the  heaving  of 
the  seething  mass,  it  at  length  sets  permanently,  and  finally 
allows  some  portion  of  the  liquid  rain  condensed  upon  it  to 
remain  as  a  boiling  ocean.  Then  began  the  reign  of  the 
waters,  under  which  the  first  stratified  rocks  were  laid  down 
by  the  deposit  of  earthy  and  saline  matter  suspended  or  dis- 


114  TJie  Origin  of  tJie  World. 

solved  in  the  heated  sea.  Such  is  the  picture  which  science 
presents  to  us  of  the  genesis  of  the  earth,  and  so  far  as  we 
can  judge  from  his  words,  such  must  have  been  the  picture 
presented  to  the  mental  vision  of  the  ancient  seer  of  crea- 
tion ;  but  he  could  discern  also  that  mysterious  influence,  the 
"breath  of  Elohim,"  which  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters, 
and  prepared  for  the  evolution  of  land  and  of  life  from  their 
bosom.     He  saw — 

*'  An  earth — formless  and  void  ; 
A  vaporous  abyss — dark  at  its  very  surface ; 
A  universal  ocean — the  breath  of  God  hovering  over  it." 

How  could  such  a  scene  be  represented  in  words  ?  since  it 
presented  none  of  the  familiar  features  of  the  actual  world. 
Had  he  attempted  to  dilate  upon  it,  he  would,  in  the  absence 
of  the  facts  furnished  by  modern  science,  have  been  obliged, 
like  the  writers  of  some  of  the  less  simple  and  primitive  cos- 
mogonies already  quoted,*  to  adopt  the  feeble  expedient  of 
enumerating  the  things  not  present.  He  wisely  contents 
himself  with  a  few  well-chosen  words,  which  boldly  sketch  the 
crude  materials  of  a  world  hopeless  and  chaotic  but  for  the 
animating  breath  of  the  Almight}^  who  has  created  even  that 
old  chaos  out  of  which  is  to  be  worked  in  the  course  of  the  six 
creative  days  all  the  variety  and  beauty  of  a  finished  world. 

In  conclusion,  the  reader  will  perceive  how  this  reticence 
of  the  author  of  Genesis  strengthens  the  argument  for  the 
primitive  age  of  the  document,  and  for  the  vision-theory  as  to 
its  origin  ;  and  will  also  observe  that,  in  the  conception  of 
this  ancient  writer,  the  "  promise  and  potency  "  of  order  and 
life  reside  not  alone  in  the  atoms  of  a  vaporous  world,  but 
also  in  the  will  of  its  Creator. 

*  Pages  21,  22,  and  109,  supra. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  1 1 5 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LIGHT   AND    CREATIVE    DAYS. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  light  be,  and  light  was  ;  and  God  saw  the  light  that 
it  was  good,  and  separated  the  light  from  the  darkness  :  and  God  called 
the  light  Day  ;  and  the  darkness  he  called  Night.  And  Evening  was  and 
Morning  was — Day  one." — Genesis  i.,  3-5. 

Light  is  the  first  element  of  order  and  perfection  intro- 
duced upon  our  planet — the  first  innovation  on  the  old  re- 
gime of  darkness  and  desolation.  There  is  a  beautiful 
propriety  in  this,  for  the  Hebrew  Aur  (light)  should  be  view- 
ed as  including  heat  and  electricity  as  well  as  light ;  and 
these  three  forces — if  they  are  really  distinct,  and  not  merely 
various  movements  of  one  and  the  same  ether — are  in  them- 
selves, or  the  proximate  causes  of  their  manifestation,  the 
prime  movers  of  the  machinery  of  nature,  the  vivifying  forces 
without  which  the  primeval  desolation  would  have  been 
eternal.  The  statement  presented  here  is,  however,  a  bold 
one.  Light  without  luminaries,  which  were  afterward  form- 
ed—  independent  light,  so  to  speak,  shining  all  around  the 
earth  —  is  an  idea  not  likely  to  have  occurred  in  the  days 
of  Moses  to  the  framer  of  a  fictitious  cosmogony,  and  yet  it 
corresponds  in  a  remarkable  manner  with  some  of  the  theo- 
ries which  have  grown  out  of  modern  induction. 

I  have  said  that  the  Hebrew  word  translated  "light"  includes 
the  vibratory  movements  which  we  call  heat  and  electricity 
as  well.     I  make  this  statement,  not  intending  to  assert  that 


ii6  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  Hebrews  experimented  on  these  forces  in  the  manner  of 
modern  science,  and  would  therefore  be  prepared  to  under- 
stand their  laws  or  correlations  as  fully  as  we  can.  I  give 
the  word  this  general  sense  simply  because  throughout  the 
Bible  it  is  used  to  denote  the  solar  light  and  heat,  and  also 
the  electric  light  of  the  thunder-cloud  :  "  the  light  of  His 
cloud,"  "the  bright  light  which  is  in  the  clouds."  The  ab- 
sence of  "^z/r,"  therefore,  in  the  primeval  earth,  is  the  ab- 
sence of  solar  radiation,  of  the  lightning's  flash,  and  of  vol- 
canic fires.  We  shall  in  the  succeeding  verses  find  addi- 
tional reasons  for  excluding  all  these  phenomena  from  the 
darkness  of  the  primeval  night. 

The  light  of  the  first  day  can  not  reasonably  be  supposed 
to  have  been  in  anv  other  than  a  visible  and  active  state. 
Whether  light  be,  as  supposed  by  the  older  physicists,  lumi- 
nous matter  radiated  with  immense  velocity,  or,  as  now  ap- 
pears more  probable,  merely  the  undulations  of  a  universally 
diffused  ether,  its  motion  had  already  commenced.  The  idea 
of  the  matter  of  light  as  distinct  from  its  power  of  affecting 
the  senses  does  not  appear  in  the  Scriptures  any  farther  than 
that  the  Hebrew  name  is  probably  radically  identical  with 
the  word  ether  now  used  to  express  the  undulating  medium 
by  which  light  is  propagated  ;  and  if  it  did,  the  general 
creation  of  matter  being  stated  in  verse  i,  and  the  notice  of 
the  separation  of  light  and  darkness  being  distinctly  given  in 
the  present  verse,  there  is  no  place  left  for  such  a  view  here. 
For  this  reason,  that  explanation  of  these  words  which  sup- 
poses that  on  the  first  day  the  ^natter  of  light,  or  the  ether 
whose  motions  produce  light,  was  created,  and  that  on  the 
fourth  day,  when  luminaries  were  appointed,  it  became  visible 
by  beginning  to  undulate,  must  be  abandoned;  and  the  con- 
nection between  these  two  statements   must  be  sought  in 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  \\j 

some  other  group  of  facts  than  that  connected  with  the 
existence  of  the  matter  of  light  as  distinct  from  its  undu- 
lations. 

What,  then,  was  the  nature  of  the  light  which  on  the  first 
day  shone  without  the  presence  of  any  local  luminary  ?  It 
must  have  proceeded  from  luminous  matter  diffused  through 
the  whole  space  of  the  solar  system,  or  surrounding  our  globe 
as  with  a  mantle.  It  was  "clothed  with  light  as  with  a 
garment," 

"  Sphered  in  a  radiant  cloud,  for  yet  the  sun  \Yas  not." 

We  have  already  rejected  the  hypothesis  that  the  primeval 
night  proceeded  from  a  temporary  obscuration  of  the  atmos- 
phere ;  and  the  expression,  "  God  said,  Let  light  be,"  affords 
an  additional  reason,  since,  in  accordance  wdth  the  strict 
precision  of  language  which  everywhere  prevails  in  this  an- 
cient document,  a  mere  restoration  of  light  would  not  be 
stated  in  such  terms.  If  we  wish  to  find  a  natural  explana- 
tion of  the  mode  of  illumination  referred  to,  we  must  recur  to 
one  or  other  of  the  suppositions  mentioned  above,  that  the 
luminous  matter  formed  a  nebulous  atmosphere,  slowly  con- 
'centrating  itself  toward  the  centre  of  the  solar  S3^stem,  or  that 
it  formed  a  special  envelope  of  our  earth,  which  subsequently 
disappeared. 

We  may  suppose  this  light-giving  matter  to  be  the  same 
with  that  which  now  surrounds  the  sun,  and  constitutes  the 
stratum  of  luminous  substance  which,  by  its  wondrous  and 
unceasing  power  of  emitting  light,  gives  him  all  his  glory. 
To  explain  the  division  of  the  light  from  the  darkness,  we 
need  only  suppose  that  the  luminous  matter,  in  the  progress 
of  its  concentration,  was  at  length  all  gathered  within  the 
earth's  orbit,  and  then,  as  one  hemisphere  only  would  be 


Ii8  TJie  Origin  of  tJie   World. 

illuminated  at  a  time,  the  separation  of  light  from  dark- 
ness, or  of  day  from  night,  would  be  established.  This 
hypothesis,  suggested  by  the  words  themselves,  affords  a 
simple  and  natural  explanation  of  a  statement  otherwise 
obscure. 

It  is  an  instructive  circumstance  that  the  probabilities 
respecting  the  early  state  of  our  planet,  thus  deduced  from 
the  Scriptural  narrative,  correspond  very  closely  with  the 
most  ingenious  and .  truly  philosophical  speculation  ever 
hazarded  respecting  the  origin  of  our  solar  system.  I  refer 
to  the  cosmical  hypothesis  of  La  Place,  which  was  certainly 
formed  without  any  reference  to  the  Bible  ;  and  by  persons 
whose  views  of  the  Mosaic  narrative  are  of  that  shallow 
character  which  is  too  prevalent,  has  been  suspected  as  of 
infidel  tendency.  La  Place's  theory  is  based  on  the  follow- 
ing properties  of  the  solar  system,  which  will  be  found 
referred  to  in  this  connection  in  many  popular  works  on 
astronomy  :  i.  The  orbits  of  the  planets  are  nearly  circular. 

2.  They  revolve  nearly  in  the  plane  of  the  sun's  equator.* 

3.  They  all  revolve  round  the  sun  in  one  direction,  which  is 
also  the  direction  of  the  sun's  rotation.  4.  They  rotate  on 
their  axes  also,  as  far  as  is  known,  in  the  same  direction. 
5.  Their  satellites,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  Uranus  and 
Neptune,  revolve  in  the  same  direction.  Now  all  these 
coincidences  can  scarcely  have  been  fortuitous,  and  yet  they 
might  have  been  otherwise  without  affecting  the  working  of 
the  system  ;  and,  farther,  if  not  fortuitous,  they  correspond 


*  The  minor  planets  discovered  in  more  recent  times  between  Mars 
and  Jupiter  form  an  exception  to  this ;  but  they  are  of  little  importance, 
and  exceptional  in  other  respects  as  well.  To  give  their  arrangement 
and  the  motions  of  the  satellites  of  Uranus,  would  require  the  further 
assumption  of  some  unknown  disturbing  cause. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  119 

precisely  with  the  results  which  would  flow  from  the  conden- 
sation of  a  revolving  mass  of  nebulous  matter.  La  Place, 
therefore,  conceived  that  in  the  beginning  the  matter  of  our 
system  existed  in  the  condition  of  a  mass  of  vaporous  mate- 
rial, having  a  central  nucleus  more  or  less  dense,  and  the 
whole  rotating  in  a  uniform  direction.  Such  a  mass  must, 
"in  condensing  by  cold,  leave  in  the  plane  of  its  equator 
zones  of  vapor  composed  of  substances  which  required  an 
intense  degree  of  cold  to  return  to  a  liquid  or  solid  state. 
These  zones  must  have  begun  by  circulating  round  the  sun 
in  the  form  of  concentric  rings,  the  most  volatile  molecules 
of  which  must  have  formed  the  superior  part,  and  the  most 
condensed  the  inferior  part.  If  all  the  nebulous  molecules 
of  which  these  rings  are  composed  had  continued  to  cool 
without  disuniting,  they  would  have  ended  by  forming  a 
liquid  or  solid  ring.  But  the  regular  constitution  which  all 
parts  of  the  ring  would  require  lor  this,  and  which  they  would 
have  needed  to  preserve  when  cooling,  would  make  this  phe- 
nomenon extremely  rare.  Accordingly  the  solar  system  pre- 
sents only  one  instance  of  \\. — that  of  the  rings  of  Saturn. 
Generally  the  ring  must  have  broken  into  several  parts  which 
have  continued  to  circulate  round  the  sun,  and  with  almost 
equal  velocity,  while  at  the  same  time,  in  consequence  of 
their  separation,  they  would  acquire  a  rotatory  motion  round 
their  respective  centres  of  gravity ;  and  as  the  molecules  of 
the  superior  part  of  the  ring — that  is  to  say,  those  farthest 
from  the  centre  of  the  sun — had  necessarily  an  absolute 
velocity  greater  than  the  molecules  of  the  inferior  part  which 
is  nearest  it,  the  rotatory  motion  common  to  all  the  fragments 
must  always  have  been  in  the  same  direction  with  the  orbit- 
ual  motion.  However,  if  after  their  division  one  of  these 
fragments  has  been  sufficiently  superior  to  the  others  to  unite 


120  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

them  to  it  by  its  attraction,  tliey  will  have  formed  only  a  mass 
of  vapor,  which,  by  the  continual  friction  of  all  its  parts, 
must  have  assumed  the  form  of  a  spheroid,  flattened  at  the 
poles  and  expanded  in  the  direction  of  its  equator.""^  Here, 
then,  are  rings  of  vapor  left  by  the  successive  retreats  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  sun,  changed  into  so  many  planets  in  the 
condition  of  vapor,  circulating  round  the  central  orb,  and 
possessing  a  rotatory  motion  in  the  direction  of  their  revolu- 
tion, while  the  solar  mass  was  gradually  contracting  itself 
round  its  centre  and  assuming  its  present  organized  form. 
Such  is  a  general  view  of  the  hypothesis  of  La  Place,  which 
may  also  be  followed  out  into  all  the  known  details  of  the 
solar  system,  and  will  be  found  to  account  for  them  all. 
Into  these  details,  however,  we  can  not  now  enter.  Let  us 
now  compare  this  ingenious  speculation  with  the  Scripture 
narrative.  In  both  we  have  the  raw  material  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  created  before  it  assumed  its  distinct  forms. 
In  both  we  have  that  state  of  the  planets  characterized  as 
without  form  and  void,  the  condensing  nebulous  mass  of 
La  Place's  theory  being  in  perfect  correspondence  with  the 
Scriptural  "deep."  In  both  it  is  implied  that  the  permanent 
mutual  relations  of  the  several  bodies  of  the  system  must 
have  been  perfected  long  after  their  origin.  Lastly,  suppos- 
ing the  luminous  atmosphere  of  our  sun  to  have  been  of  such 
a  character  as  to  concentrate  itself  wholly  around  the  centre 
of  the  system,  and  that  as  it  became  concentrated  it  acquired 
its  intense  luminosity,  we  have  in  both  the  production  of  light 
from  the  same  cause  ;  and  in  both  it  would  follow  that  the 
concentration  of  this  matter  within  the  orbit  of  the  earth 
v/ould  effect  the  separation  of  day  from  night,  by  illuminating 

*  Nichol's  "  Planetary  System.  " 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  121 

alternately  the  opposite  sides  of  the  earth.  It  is  true  that 
the  theory  of  La  Place  does  not  provide  for  any  such  special 
condensation  of  luminous  matter,  nor  for  any  precise  stage  of 
the  process  as  that  in  which  the  arrangements  of  light  and 
darkness  should  be  completed;  but  under  his  hypothesis  it 
seems  necessary  to  account  in  some  such  way  for  the  sole 
luminosity  of  the  sun  ;  and  the  point  of  separation  of  day 
and  night  must  have  been  a  marked  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  process  for  each  planet.  The  theory  of  accretion  of  mat- 
ter which  has  in  modern  times  been  associated  with  that  of 
La  Place  would  equally  well  accord  with  the  indications  in 
our  jMosaic  record.* 

It  is  further  to  be  observed  that  so  long  as  the  material  of 
the  earth  constituted  a  part  of  the  great  vaporous  mass,  it 
would  be  encompassed  with  its  diffused  light,  and  that  after 
it  had  been  left  outside  the  contracting  solar  envelope,  it 
might  still  retain  some  independent  luminosity  in  its  atmos- 
phere, a  trace  of  which  may  still  exist  in  the  auroral  displays 
of  the  upper  strata  of  the  air.  The  earth  might  thus  at  first 
be  in  total  darkness.  It  might  then  be  dimly  lighted  by  the 
surrounding  nebulosity,  or  by  a  luminous  envelope  in  its  own 
atmosphere.  Then  it  might,  as  before  explained,  relapse  into 
the  darkness  of  its  misty  mantle,  and  as  this  cleared  away 
and  the  light  of  the  sun  increased  and  became  condensed,  the 
latter  would  gradually  be  installed  into  his  oflice  as  the  sole 
orb  of  day.  It  is  quite  evident  that  we  thus  have  a  sufficient 
hypothetical  explanation  of  the  light  of  the  first  of  the  creative 
aeons  ;  and  this  is  all  that  in  the  present  state  of  science  we 
can  expect.  "Where  is  the  way  where  light  dwelleth?  and  as 
for  darkness,  where  is  the  place  thereof,  that  thou  shouldest 


*  Proctor's  Lectures,  etc. 
F 


122  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

take  it  to  the  bound  thereof,  and  know  the  way  to  the  house 
thereof?" 

For  the  reasons  above  given,  we  must  regard  tlie  hypothe- 
sis of  the  great  French  astronomer  as  a  wonderful  approxi- 
mation to  the  grand  and  simple  plan  of  the  construction  of 
our  system  as  revealed  in  Scripture.  Nor  must  we  omit  to 
notice  that  the  telescope  and  the  spectroscope  reveal  to  us  in 
the  heavens  gaseous  nebular  bodies  which  may  well  be  new 
systems  in  progress  of  formation,  and  in  which  the  Creator  is 
even  now  dividing  the  light  from  the  darkness.  Still  another 
thought  in  connection  with  this  subject  is  that  the  theory  of 
a  condensing  system  affords  a  measure  of  the  aggregate  time 
occupied  in  the  work  of  creation.  Sir  William  Thomson's 
well-known  calculations  give  us  one  hundred  millions  of 
years  as  the  possible  age  of  the  earth  as  a  planetary  globe; 
but  calculations  of  the  sun's  heat  as  produced  by  gravitation 
alone  would  give  a  much  less  time.  We  have,  however,  a 
right  to  assume  an  original  heated  condition  of  the  vaporous 
mass  from  which  the  sun  was  formed.  Still  the  date  above 
given  would  seem  to  be  a  maximum  rather  than  a  minimum 
age  for  the  solar  system, 

''God  saw  the  light  that  it  was  good," though  it  illuminated 
but  a  waste  of  lifeless  waters.  It  was  good  because  beautiful 
in  itself,  and  because  God  saw  it  in  its  relations  to  long  trains 
of  processes  and  wonderful  organic  structures  on  which  it  was 
to  act  as  a  vivifying  agency.  Throughout  the  Scriptures  light 
is  not  only  good,  but  an  emblem  of  higher  good.  In  Psalm 
civ.  God  is  represented  as  "clothing  himself  with  light  as  with 
a  garment ;"  and  in  many  other  parts  of  these  exquisite  lyrics 
we  have  similar  figures.  "The  Lord  is  my  light  and  salva- 
tion ;"  "  Lift  up  the  light  of  thy  countenance  upon  me  ;" 
"The  entrance  of  thy  law  giveth  light;"  "The  path  of  the 


LigJU  and  Creative  Days.  123 

just  is  as  a  shining  light."  And  the  great  spiritual  Light  of 
the  world,  the  "  only  begotten  of  the  Father,"  the  mediator 
alike  in  creation  and  redemption,  is  himself  the  "  Sun  of 
Righteousness."  Perhaps  the  noblest  Scripture  passage  re- 
lating to  the  blessing  of  light  is  one  in  the  address  of  Jeho- 
vah to  Job,  which  is  unfortunately  so  imperfectly  translated 
in  the  English  version  as  to  be  almost  unintelligible  : 

"  Hast  thou  in  thy  lifetime  given  law  to  the  morning, 
Or  caused  the  dawn  to  know  its  place, 
That  it  may  enclose  the  horizon  in  its  grasj^, 
And  chase  the  robbers  before  it  : 
It  rolls  along  as  the  seal  over  the  clay, 
Causing  all  things  to  stand  forth  in  gorgeous  apparel."* 

Job  xxxviii,,  12. 

The  concluding  words,  "Day  one,"  bring  us  to  the  con- 
sideration of  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  in  this  his- 
tory, and  one  on  which  its  significance  in  a  great  measure 
depends  —  the  meaning  of  the  word  da}\  and  the  length  of 
the  days  of  creation. 

In  pursuing  this  investigation,  I  shall  refrain  from  noticing 
in  detail  the  views  of  the  many  able  modern  writers  who,  from 
Cuvier,  De  Luc,  and  Jameson,  down  to  Hugh  Miller,  Donald 
McDonald,  and  Tayler  Lewis,  have  maintained  the  period 
theory,  or  those  equally  numerous  and  able  writers  who  have 
supported  the  opposite  view.  I  acknowledge  obligations  to 
them  all,  but  prefer  to  direct  my  attention  immediately  to  the 
record  itself. 

The  first  important  fact  that  strikes  us  is  one  which  has 


*  This  translation  is  as  literal  as  is  consistent  with  the  bold  abruptness 
of  the  original.  The  last  idea  is  that  of  a  cylindrical  seal  rolling  over  clay, 
and  leaving  behind  a  beautiful  impression  where  all  before  was  a  blank. 


124  '        TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

not  received  the  attention  it  deserves,  viz.,  that  the  word 
day  is  evidently  used  in  three  senses  in  the  record  itself. 
We  are  told  (verse  5th)  that  God  called  the  light,  that  is,  the 
diurnal  continuance  of  light,  day.  We  are  also  informed  that 
the  evening  and  the  morimig  were  the  first  day.  Day,  there- 
fore, in  one  of  these  clauses  is  the  light  as  separated  from  the 
darkness,  which  we  may  call  the  natw-al  day ;  in  the  other  it 
is  the  whole  time  occupied  in  the  creation  of  light  and  its 
separation  from  the  darkness,  whether  that  was  a  civil  or  as- 
tronomical day  of  twenty-four  hours  or  some  longer  period. 
In  other  words,  the  daylight,  to  which  God  is  represented  as 
restricting  the  use  of  the  term  day,  is  only  a  part  of  a  day  of 
creation,  which  included  both  light  and  darkness,  and  which 
might  be  either  a  civil  day  or  a  longer  period,  but  could  not 
be  the  natural  day  intervening  between  sunrise  and  sunset, 
which  is  the  ordinary  day  of  Scripture  phraseology.  Again, 
in  the  4th  verse  of  chapter  ii.,  which  begins  the  second  part 
of  the  history,  the  whole  creative  week  is  called  one  day — 
"  In  the  day  that  Jehovah  Elohim  made  the  earth  and  the 
heavens."  Such  an  expression  must  surely  in  such  a  place 
imply  more  than  a  mere  inadvertence  on  the  part  of  the 
writer  or  writers. 

To  pave  the  way  for  a  right  understanding  of  the  day  of 
creation,  it  may  be  well  to  consider,  in  the  first  place,  the 
manner  in  which  the  shorter  day  is  introduced.  In  the  ex- 
pression, "  God  called  the  light  da}^,"  we  find  for  the  first  time 
the  Creator  naming  his  works,  and  we  may  infer  that  some 
important  purpose  was  to  be  served  by  this.  The  nature 
of  this  purpose  we  ascertain  by  comparison  with  other  in- 
stances of  the  same  kind  occurring  in  the  chapter.  God 
called  the  darkness  night,  the  firmament  heaven,  the  dry  land 
earth,  the  gathered  waters  seas.     In  all  these  cases  the  pur- 


LigJit  and  Creative  Days.  125 

pose  seems  to  have  been  one  of  verbal  definition,  perhaps 
along  with  an  assertion  of  sovereignty.  It  was  necessary  to 
distinguish  the  diurnal  darkness  from  that  unvaried  darkness 
which  had  been  of  old,  and  to  discriminate  between  the  lim- 
ited waters  of  an  earth  having  dry  land  on  its  surface  and 
those  of  the  ancient  universal  ocean.  This  is  eftected  by  in- 
troducing two  new  terms,  night  and  seas.  In  like  manner  it 
was  necessary  to  mark  the  new  application  of  the  term  earth 
to  the  dry  land,  and  that  of  heaven  to  the  atmosphere,  more 
especially  as  these  were  the  senses  in  which  the  words  were 
to  be  popularly  used.  The  intention,  therefore,  in  all  these 
cases  was  to  affix  to  certain  things  names  different  from  those 
which  they  had  previously  borne  in  the  narrative,  and  to  cer- 
tain terms  new  senses  differing  from  those  in  which  they  had 
been  previously  used.  Applying  this  explanation  here,  it  re- 
sults that  the  probable  reason  for  calling  the  light  day  is  to 
point  out  that  the  w^ord  occurs  in  two  senses,  and  that  while 
it  was  to  be  the  popular  and  proper  term  for  the  natural  day, 
this  sense  must  be  distinguished  from  its  other  meaning  as  a 
day  of  creation.  In  short,  we  may  take  this  as  a  plain  and 
authoritative  declaration  that  the  day  of  creatio7i  is  not  the  day 
of  popular  speech.  We  see  in  this  a  striking  instance  of  the 
general  truth  that  in  the  simplicity  of  the  structure  of  this 
record  we  find  not  carelessness,  but  studied  and  severe  pre- 
cision, and  are  warned  against  the  neglect  of  the  smallest 
peculiarities  in  its  diction. 

What,  then,  is  the  day  of  creation,  as  distinguished  by  Moses 
himself  from  the  natural  da}'.  The  general  opinion,  and  that 
which  at  first  sight  appears  most  probable,  is  that  it  is  merely 
the  ordinary  civil  day  of  twenty-four  hours.  Those  who  adopt 
this  view  insist  on  the  impropriety  of  diverting  the  word  from 
its  usual  sense.     Unfortunately,  however,  for  this  argument, 


126  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  word  is  not  very  frequently  used  in  the  Scriptures  for  the 
whole  twenty-four  hours  of  the  earth's  revolution.  Its  ety- 
mology gives  it  the  sense  of  the  time  of  glowing  or  warmth, 
and  in  accordance  with  this  the  divine  authority  here  limits 
its  meaning  to  the  daylight.  Accordingly  throughout  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  jiw;^  is  generally  the  natural  and  not  the  civil 
day  ;  and  where  the  latter  is  intended,  the  compound  terms 
"day  and  night"  and  "evening  and  morning"  are  frequently 
used.  Any  one  who  glances  over  the  word  "day"  in  a  good 
English  concordance  can  satisfy  himself  of  this  fact.  But 
the  sense  of  natural  day  from  sunrise  to  sunset  is  expressly 
excluded  here  by  the  context,  as  already  shown  ;  and  all  that 
we  can  say  in  favor  of  the  interpretation  that  limits  the  day 
of  creation  to  twenty-four  hours,  is  that  next  to  the  use  of  the 
word  for  the  natural  day,  which  is  its  true  popular  meaning, 
its  use  for  the  civil  day  is  perhaps  the  most  frequent.  It  is 
therefore  by  no  means  a  statement  of  the  whole  truth  to  af- 
firm, as  many  writers  have  done,  that  the  civil  day  is  the  ordi- 
nary meaning  of  the  term.  At  the  same  time  we  may  admit 
that  this  is  one  of  its  ordinary  meanings,  and  therefore  may 
be  its  meaning  here.  Another  argument  frequently  urged  is 
that  the  day  of  creation  is  said  to  have  had  an  evening  and 
morning.  We  shall  consider  this  more  fully  in  the  sequel, 
and  in  the  mean  time  may  observe  that  it  appears  rather 
hazardous  to  attribute  an  ordinary  evening  and  morning  to 
a  day  which,  on  the  face  of  the  record,  preceded  the  forma- 
tion and  arrangement  of  the  luminaries  which  are  "  for  days 
and  for  years."* 

*  Professor  Dana  thus  sums  up  the  various  meanings  of  the  word  day 
in  Genesis  :  "  First,  in  verse  5,  the  light  in  general  is  called  day,  the  dark- 
ness night.  Second,  in  the  same  verse,  evening  and  77ior7ting  make  the  first 
day,  before  the  sun  appears.    Third,  in  verse  14,  day  stands  for  twelve  hours. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  127 

But  it  may  be  affirmed  that  in  the  Bible  long  and  unde- 
fined periods  are  indicated  by  the  word  "day."  In  many  of 
these  cases  the  word  is  in  the  plural  :  as  Genesis  iv.,  3,  "And 
after  days  it  came  to  pass,"  rendered  in  our  version  "  in  proc- 
ess of  time  ;"  Genesis  xl.,  4,  "  days  in  ward,"  rendered  "  a  sea- 
son." Such  instances  as  these  are  not  applicable  to  the  pres- 
ent question,  since  the  plural  may  have  the  sense  of  indefinite 
time,  merely  by  denoting  an  undetermined  number  of  natural 
days.  Passages  in  which  the  singular  occurs  in  this  sense 
are  those  which  strictly  apply  to  the  case  in  hand,  and  such 
are  by  no  means  rare.  A  very  remarkable  example  is  that 
in  Genesis  ii.,  4,  already  mentioned,  where  we  find,  "  In  the 
day  when  Jehovah  Elohim  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens." 
This  day  must  either  mean  the  beginning,  or  must  include 
the  whole  six  days ;  most  probably  the  latter,  since  the  word 
"  made  "  refers  not  to  the  act  of  creation,  properly  so  called, 
but  to  the  elaborating  processes  of  the  creative  week  ;  and 
occurring  as  this  does  immediately  after  the  narrative  of  cre- 
ation, it  seems  almost  like  an  intentional  intimation  of  the 
wide  import  of  the  creative  days.  It  has  been  objected,  how- 
ever, that  the  expression  "  in  the  day "  is  properly  a  com- 
pound adverb,  having  the  force  of  "when"  or  "at  the  time." 
But  the  learned  and  ingenious  authors  who  urge  this  objec- 
tion have  omitted  to  consider  the  relative  probabilities  as  to 


or  the  period  of  daylight,  as  dependent  on  the  sun.  Fourth,  same  verse, 
in  the  phrase  "days  and  seasons,"  day  stands  for  a  period  oi tioenty-four 
hoicrs.  Fifth,  at  the  close  of  the  account,  in  verse  4  of  the  second  chapter, 
day  means  the  whole  period  of  creation.  These  uses  are  the  same  that  Vv'C 
have  in  our  own  language. 

Warring,  in  his  book  "  The  Miracle  of  To-day,"  has  suggested  that  the 
Mosaic  days  are  epochal  days,  each  considered  as  the  close  and  culmina- 
tion of  a  period.  This  is  an  ingenious  suggestion,  and  very  well  coincides 
with  the  day-period  theory  as  defended  in  the  text. 


128  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

whether  the  adverbial  use  had  arisen  while  the  word  yom 
meant  simply  a  day,  or  whether  the  use  of  the  noun  for  long 
periods  was  the  reason  of  the  introduction  of  such  an  adverb- 
ial expression.  The  probabilities  are  in  favor  of  the  latter,  for 
it  is  not  likely  that  men  would  construct  an  adverb  referring 
to  indefinite  time  from  a  word  denoting  one  of  the  most  pre- 
cisely limited  portions  of  time,  unless  that  word  had  also  a  sec- 
ond and  more  unlimited  sense.  Admitting,  therefore,  that  the 
phrase  is  an  adverb  of  time,  its  use  so  early  as  the  date  of  the 
composition  of  Genesis,  to  denote  a  period  longer  than  a  lit- 
eral day,  seems  to  imply  that  this  indefinite  use  of  the  word 
was  of  high  antiquity,  and  probably  preceded  the  invention  of 
any  term  by  which  long  periods  could  be  denoted. 

This  use  of  the  word  "day"  is,  however,  not  limited  to  cases 
of  the  occurrence  of  the  formula  "  in  the  day."  The  follow- 
ing are  a  few  out  of  many  instances  that  might  be  quoted: 
Job  xviii.,  20,  "They  that  come  after  him  shall  be'astonished 
at  his  day;"  Job  xv.,  32,  "It  shall  be  accomplished  before 
his  tinie;'^  Judges  xviii.,  30,  "  Until  the  day  of  the  captivity 
of  the  land;"  Deut.  i.,  39,  "And  your  children  which  in  that 
day  had  no  knowledge  of  good  and  evil;"  Gen.  xxxix.,  10, 
"And  it  came  to  pass  about  that  time"  (on  that  day).  We 
find  also  abundance  of  such  expressions  as  "day  of  calamity," 
"day  of  distress,"  "day  of  wrath,"  "day  of  God's  power," 
"day  of  prosperity."  In  such  passages  the  word  is  evidently 
used  in  the  sense  of  era  or  period  of  time,  and  this  in  prose 
as  well  as  poetry. 

There  is  a  remarkable  passage  in  the  Psalms,  which  con- 
veys the  idea  of  a  day  of  God  as  distinct  from  human  or  ter- 
restrial days  : 

"  Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth, 
Or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world, 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  129 

Even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  God. 

Thou  turnest  man  to  destruction, 

And  sayest,  Return,  ye  children  of  men ; 

For  a  thousand  years  are  in  thy  sight  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past, 

And  as  a  watch  in  the  night."* 

It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that  the  authorship  of  this 
Psalm  is  attributed  to  Moses,  and  that  its  style  and  language 
correspond  with  the  songs  credited  to  him  in  Deuteronomy. 
It  is  farther  to  be  observed  that  the  reference  is  to  the  long 
periods  employed  in  creation  as  contrasted  with  the  limited 
space  of  years  allotted  to  man.  Its  meaning,  too,  is  some- 
what obscured  by  the  inaccurate  translation  of  the  third  line. 
In  the  original  it  is,  "From  olam  to  olam  thou  art,  O  El" — that 
is,  "from  age  to  age."  These  long  ages  of  creation,  consti- 
tuting a  duration  to  us  relatively  eternal,  were  so  protracted 
that  even  a  thousand  years  are  but  as  a  watch  in  the  night. 
If  this  Psalm  is  rightly  attributed  to  the  author  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  it  seems  absolutely  certain  that  he  under- 
stood his  own  creative  days  as  being  Olamifn  or  a^ons.  The 
same  thought  occurs  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter :  "  One 
day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand 
years  as  one  day." 

That  the  other  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  understood 
the  creative  days  in  this  sense,  might  be  inferred  from  the  en- 
tire absence  of  any  reference  to  the  work  of  creation  as  short, 
since  it  occupied  only  six  days.  Such  reference  we  may  find 
in  modern  writers,  but  never  in  the  Scriptures.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  receive  the  impression  of  the  creative  work  as  long 
continued.  Thus  the  divine  Wisdom  says  in  Prov.  viii.,  The 
Lord  possessed  me  "from  the  beginning  of  his  way  before 


*  Psalm  xc. 
F2 


130  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

his  works  of  old,  from  everlasting,  before  the  antiquities  of 
the  earth."  So  in  Psalm  cxlv.,  God's  kingdom  relatively  to 
nature  and  providence  is  a  kingdom  "of  all  ages."  In  Psahn 
civ^,  which  is  a  poetical  version  of  the  creative  work,  and  the 
oldest  extant  commentary  on  Genesis  i,,  it  is  evident  that  there 
was  no  idea  in  the  mind  of  the  writer  of  a  short  time,  but 
rather  of  long  consecutive  processes;  and  I  may  remark  here 
that  the  course  of  the  narrative  itself  in  Genesis  i.,  implies 
time  for  the  replenishing  of  the  earth  with  various  forms  of 
being  in  preparation  for  others,  exactly  as  in  Psalm  civ. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  conclusive  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  length  of  the  creative  days  is  that  furnished  by  the 
seventh  day  and  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath.  In  Gen- 
esis the  seventh  day  is  not  said  to  have  had  an  evening  or 
morning,  nor  is  God  said  to  have  resumed  his  work  on  any 
eighth  day.  Consequently  the  seventh  day  of  creation  must 
be  still  current.  Now  in  the  fourth  commandment  the  Isra- 
elites are  enjoined  to  "remember  the  Sabbath-day,"  because 
"in  six  davs  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  Ob- 
serve  here  that  the  Sabbath  is  to  be  remembered  as  an  insti- 
tution already  known.  Observe  farther  that  the  command- 
ment is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  Decalogue,  a  solitary  piece 
of  apparently  arbitrary  ritual  amid  the  plainest  and  most 
obvious  moral  duties.  Observe  also  that  the  reason  given — 
namely,  God's  six  days'  work  and  seventh  day's  rest — seems 
at  first  sight  both  far-fetched  and  trivial,  as  an  argument  for 
abstaining  from  work  in  a  seventh  part  of  our  time.  How  is 
all  this  to  be  explained  ?  Simply,  I  think,  on  the  supposition 
that  the  Lawgiver,  and  those  for  whom  he  legislated,  knew  be- 
forehand the  history  of  creation  and  the  fall,  as  we  have  them 
recorded  in  Genesis,  and  knew  that  God's  days  are  ceons. 
The  argument  is  not,  "God  worked  on  six  natural  days,  and 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  131 

rested  on  the  seventh ;  do  you  therefore  the  same."  Such 
an  argument  could  have  no  moral  or  religious  force,  more 
especially  as  it  could  not  be  affirmed  that  God  habitually 
works  and  rests  in  this  way.  The  argument  reaches  far  deep- 
er and  higher.  It  is  this.  God  created  the  world  in  six  of 
his  days,  and  on  the  seventh  rested,  and  invited  man  in  Eden 
to  enter  on  his  rest  as  a  perpetual  Sabbath  of  happiness. 
But  man  fell,  and  lost  God's  Sabbath.  Therefore  a  weekly 
Sabbath  was  prescribed  to  him  as  a  memorial  of  what  he  had 
lost,  and  a  pledge  of  what  God  has  promised  in  the  renewal 
of  life  and  happiness  through  our  Saviour.  Thus  the  Sabbath 
is  the  central  point  of  the  moral  law — the  Gospel  in  the  Dec- 
alogue— the  connection  between  God  and  man  through  the 
promise  of  redemption.  It  is  this  and  this  alone  that  gives  it 
its  true  religious  significance,  but  is  lost  on  the  natural-day 
theory.  It  would  farther  seem  that  this  view  of  the  law  was 
that  of  our  Lord  himself,  and  was  known  to  the  Jews  of  his 
time,  for,  when  blamed  for  healing  a  man  on  the  Sabbath,  he 
says,  "My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work"  —  an  argu- 
ment whose  force  depended  on  the  fact  that  God  continues  to 
work  in  his  providence  throughout  his  long  Sabbath,  which 
has  never  been  broken  except  by  man.  Farther,  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  takes  this  view  in  arguing  as  to 
the  rest  or  Sabbatism  that  remains  to  the  people  of  God.  His 
argument  (chap,  iv.,  4)  may  be  stated  thus:  God  finished  his 
work  and  entered  into  his  rest.  Man,  in  consequence  of  the 
fall,  failed  to  do  so.  He  has  made  several  attempts  since,  but 
unsuccessfully.  Now  Christ  has  finished  his  work,  and  has 
entered  into  his  Sabbath,  and  through  him  we  may  enter  into 
that  rest  of  God  which  otherwise  we  can  not  attain  to.  This 
does  not,  it  is  true,  refer  to  the  keeping  of  a  Sabbath-day ; 
but  it  implies  an   understanding  of  the  reference  to  God's 


132  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

olamic  Sabbath,  and  also  implies  that  Christ,  having  entered 
into  his  Sabbatism  in  heaven,  gives  us  a  warrant  for  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath  or  Lord's  day,  which  has  the  same  relation  to 
Christ's  present  Sabbatism  in  heaven  that  the  old  Sabbath 
had  to  God's  rest  from  his  work  of  creation.* 

We  may  add  to  these  considerations  the  use  of  the  Greek 
term  Aion  in  the  New  Testament,  for  what  may  be  called 
time-worlds  as  distinguished  from  space -worlds.  For  ex- 
ample, take  the  expression  in  Heb.  i.,  2  :  "  His  Son,  by  whom 
he  made  the  worlds,"  or,  literally,  "constituted  the  aeons" — 
the  long  time-worlds  of  the  creation.  For  God's  worlds  must 
exist  in  time  as  well  as  in  space,  and  both  may  to  our  minds 
alike  appear  as  infinities.  If,  then,  we  find  that  Moses  himself 
seems  to  have  understood  his  creative  days  as  aions,  that  the 
succeeding  Old  Testament  writers  favor  the  same  view,  that 

*  It  may  be  desirable  to  give  here,  in  a  slightly  paraphrased  version, 
but  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  the  best  expositors,  the  es- 
sential part  of  the  passage  in  HebrcNvs,  chap.  iv. : 

"For  God  hath  spoken  in  a  certain  place"  (Gen.  ii.,  2)  of  the  seventh 
day  in  this  wise  —  'And  God  did  rest  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his 
works;'  and  in  this  place  again  —  'They  shall  not  enter  into  my  rest' 
(Psa.  xcv.,  1 1).  Seeing,  therefore,  it  still  remaineth  that  some  enter  therein, 
and  they  to  whom  it  (God's  Sabbatism)  was  first  proclaimed  entered  not  in, 
because  of  disobedience  (in  the  fall,  and  afterward  in  the  sin  of  the  Isra- 
elites in  the  desert),  again  he  fixes  a  certain  day,  saying  in  David's  writ- 
ings, long  after  the  time  of  Joshua — 'To-day,  if3-e  hear  his  voice,  harden 
not  your  hearts.'  For  if  Joshua  had  given  them  rest  in  Canaan,  he  would 
not  afterward  have  spoken  of  another  day.  There  is  therefore  yet  reserved 
a  keeping  of  a  Sabbath  for  the  people  of  God.  For  he  that  is  entered  into 
his  rest  (that  is,  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  finished  his  work  and  entered  into 
his  rest  in  heaven),  he  himself  also  rested  from  his  own  works,  as  God  did 
from  his  own.     Let  us  therefore  earnestly  strive  to  enter  into  that  rest." 

It  is  evident  that  in  this  passage  God's  Sabbatism,  the  rest  intended  for 
man  in  Eden  and  for  Israel  in  Canaan,  Christ's  rest  in  heaven  after  finish- 
ing his  work,  and  the  final  heavenly  rest  of  Christ's  people,  are  all  indef- 
inite periods  mutually  related,  and  can  not  possibly  be  natural  days. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  133 

this  view  is  essential  to  the  true  significance  of  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Lord's  day,  and  that  it  is  sustained  by  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  there  is  surely  no  need  for  our  clinging  to  a  medi- 
aeval notion  which  has  no  theological  value,  and  is  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  facts  of  nature.  On  the  contrary,  should  not  even 
children  be  taught  these  grand  truths,  and  led  to  contemplate 
the  great  work  of  Him  who  is  from  aeon  to  aeon,  and  to  think 
of  that  Sabbatism  which  he  prepared  for  us,  and  which  he  still 
offers  to  us  in  the  future,  in  connection  with  the  succession 
of  worlds  in  time  revealed  by  geology,  and  which  rivals  in 
grandeur  iind  perhaps  exceeds  in  interest  the  extension  of 
worlds  in  space  revealed  by  astronomy.  In  truth,  we  should 
bear  in  mind  that  the  great  revelations  of  astronomy  have  too 
much  habituated  us  to  think  of  space-worlds  rather  than  time- 
worlds,  while  the  latter  idea  was  evidently  dominant  with  the 
Biblical  writers  as  it  is  also  with  modern  2:eolo2;ists.  Viewed 
as  aeons — divine  days,  or  time-worlds — the  days  of  creation  are 
thus  a  reality  for  all  ages ;  and  connect  themselves  with  the 
highest  moral  teachings  of  the  Bible  in  relation  to  the  fall  of 
man  and  God's  plan  for  his  restoration,  begun  in  this  seventh 
aeon  of  the  world's  long  history,  and  to  be  completed  in  that 
second  divine  Sabbatism,  secured  by  the  work  of  redemption, 
the  final  "rest"  of  the  "new  heavens  and  new  earth,"  which 
remains  for  the  people  of  God. 

But  supposing  that  the  inspired  writer  intended  to  say  that 
the  w^orld  was  formed  in  six  long  periods  of  time,  could  not  he 
have  used  some  other  word  than  j'^w  that  would  have  been  lia- 
ble to  fewer  doubts.  There  are  words  which  might  have  been 
used,  as,  for  instance,  eth,  time,  season,  or  olam,  age,  ancient 
time,  eternity.  The  former,  however,  has  about  it  a  want  of 
precision  as  to  its  beginning  and  end  which  unfits  it  for  this 
use;  the  latter  we  have  already  seen  is  used  as  equivalent  to 


134  ^/^^  Origin  of  the  Wo7'ld. 

the  creative  yom.  On  the  whole,  I  am  unable  to  find  any  in- 
stance which  would  justify  me  in  affirming  that,  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  Moses  intended  long  periods,  he  could  have  better 
expressed  the  idea  than  by  the  use  of  the  word  yom^  more  es- 
pecially if  he  and  those  to  whom  he  wrote  were  familiar  with 
the  thought,  preserved  to  us  in  the  mythology  of  the  Hindoos 
and  Persians,  and  probably  widely  diffused  in  ancient  Asia, 
that  a  working  day  of  the  Creator  immeasurably  transcends 
a  working  day  of  man.* 

Many  objections  to  the  view  which  I  have  thus  endeavored 
to  support  from  internal  evidence  will  at  once  occur  to  every 
intelligent  reader  familiar  with  the  literature  of  this  subject. 
I  shall  now  attempt  to  give  the  principal  of  these  objections 
a  candid  consideration. 

(i.)  It  is  objected  that  the  time  occupied  in  the  work  of 
creation  is  given  as  a  reason  for  the  observance  of  the  seventh 
day  as  a  Sabbath  ;  and  that  this  requires  us  to  view  the  days 
of  creation  as  literal  days.     "For  in  six  days  Jehovah  made 

*  For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  value  ancient  authorities  in  such 
matters,  and  to  show  that  such  views  may  rationally  be  entertained  inde- 
pendently of  geology,  I  quote  the  following  passage  from  Origen  :  "  Cuinam 
quaeso  sensum  habenti  convenienter  videbitur  dictum,  quod  dies  prima  et 
secunda  et  tertia,  in  quibus  et  vespera  nominatur,  et  mane,  fuerint  sine 
sole,  et  sine  luna  et  sine  stellis  :  prima  autem  dies  sine  coelo."  So  St. 
Augustine  expressly  states  his  belief  that  the  creative  days  could  not  be 
of  the  ordinary  kind  :  "  Qui  dies,  cujusmodi  sint,  aut  perdifificile  nobis, 
aut  etiam  impossibile  est  cogitare,  quanto  magis  discere."  Bede  also  re- 
marks, "Fortassis  hie  diei  nomen,  totius  temporis  nomen  est,  et  omnia  vo- 
lumina  seculorum  hoc  vocabulo  includit."  Many  similar  opinions  of  old 
commentators  might  be  quoted.  It  is  also  not  unworthy  of  note  that  the 
cardinal  number  is  used  here,  "  one  day  "  for  first  day  ;  and  though  the 
Hebrew  grammarians  have  sought  to  found  on  this,  and  a  few  similar 
passages,  a  rule  that  the  cardinal  may  be  substituted  for  the  ordinal, 
many  learned  Hebraists  insist  that  this  use  of  the  cardinal  number  im- 
plies singularity  and  peculiarity  as  well  as  mere  priority. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  135 

the  heaven  and  the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and 
rested  on  the  seventh  day  ;  therefore  Jehovah  blessed  the 
Sabbath-day  and  sanctified  it."  The  argument  used  here  is, 
however,  as  we  have  already  seen,  one  of  analogy.  Because 
God  rested  on  his  seventh  day,  he  blessed  and  sanctified  it, 
and  required  men  in  like  manner  to  sanctify  their  seventh 
day.*  Now,  if  it  should  appear  that  the  working  day  of  God 
is  not  the  same  with  the  working  day  of  man,  and  that  the 
Sabbath  of  God  is  of  proportionate  length  to  his  working  day, 
the  analogy  is  not  weakened  ;  more  especially  as  we  find  the 
same  analogy  extended  to  the  seventh  year.  If  it  should  be 
said,  God  worked  in  the  creation  of  the  world  in  six  long  ages, 
and  rested  on  the  seventh,  therefore  man,  in  commemoration 
of  this  fact,  and  of  his  own  loss  of  an  interest  in  God's  rest 
by  the  fall,  shall  sanctify  the  seventh  of  his  working  days,  the 
argument  is  stronger,  the  example  more  intelligible,  than  on 
the  common  supposition.  This  objection  is,  in  fact,  a  piece 
of  pedantic  hyperorthodoxy  which  has  too  long  been  handed 
about  without  investigation.  I  may  add  to  what  has  been 
already  said  in  reference  to  it,  the  following  vigorous  thrust 
by  Hugh  Miller  :t 

"  I  can  not  avoid  thinking  that  many  of  our  theologians  at- 
tach a  too  narrow  meaning  to  the  remarkable  reason  attached 
to  the  fourth  commandment  by  the  divine  Lawgiver.  "  God 
rested  on  the  seventh  day,"  says  the  text,  "  from  all  his  work 
which  he  had  created  and  made  ;  and  God  blessed  the  seventh 
day  and  sanctified  it."  And  such  is  the  reason  given  in  the 
Decalogue  why  man  should  rest  on  the  Sabbath-day.     God 


*  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  on  the  so-called  literal  day  hypoth- 
esis the  first  Sabbath  was  not  man's  seventh  day,  but  rather  his  first,  since 
he  must  have  been  created  toward  the  close  of  the  sixth  day. 

t  "  Footprints  of  the  Creator." 


136  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

rested  on  the  Sabbath-day  and  sanctified  it;  and  therefore  man 
ought  also  to  rest  on  the  Sabbath  and  keep  it  holy.  But  I  know 
not  where  we  shall  find  grounds  for  the  belief  that  the  Sab- 
bath-day during  which  God  rested  was  merely  commensurate 
with  one  of  the  Sabbaths  of  short-lived  man — a  brief  period 
measured  by  a  single  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis.  We 
have  not,  as  has  been  shown,  a  shadow  of  evidence  that  he 
resumed  his  work  of  creation  on  the  morrow  j  the  geologist 
finds  no  trace  of  post-Adamic  creation ;  the  theologian  can 
tell  us  of  none.  God's  Sabbath  of  rest  may  still  exist ;  the 
work  of  redemjDtion  may  be  the  work  of  his  Sabbath-day. 
That  elevatory  process  through  successive  acts  of  creation, 
which  engaged  him  during  myriads  of  ages,  was  of  an  ordi- 
nary week-day  character;  but  when  the  term  of  his  moral  gov- 
ernment began,  the  elevatory  process  peculiar  to  it  assumed 
the  divine  character  of  the  Sabbath.  This  special  view  ap- 
pears to  lend  peculiar  emphasis  to  the  reason  embodied  in 
the  commandment.  The  collation  of  the  passage  with  the 
geologic  record  seems,  as  if  by  a  species  of  retranslation,  to 
make  it  enunciate  as  its  injunction, "Keep  this  da}^,  not  mere- 
ly as  a  day  of  memorial  related  to  a  past  fact,  but  also  as  a 
day  of  co-operation  with  God  in  the  work  of  elevation,  in  re- 
lation both  to  a  present  fact  and  a  future  purpose."  "  God 
keeps  his  Sabbath,"  it  says,  "in  order  that  he  may  save; 
keep  yours  also  that  ye  may  be  saved."  It  serves  besides  to 
throw  light  on  the  prominence  of  the  Sabbatical  command, 
in  a  digest  of  law  of  which  no  jot  or  tittle  can  pass  away  un- 
til the  fulfillment  of  all  things.  During  the  present  dynasty 
of  probation  and  trial,  that  special  work  of  both  God  and  man 
on  which  the  character  of  the  future  dynasty  depends  is  the 
Sabbath-day  work  of  saving  and  being  saved. 

"  The  common  objection  to  that  special  view  which  regards 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  137 

the  days  of  creation  as  immensely  protracted  periods  of  time, 
furnishes  a  specimen,  if  not  of  reasoning  in  a  circle,  at  least 
of  reasoning  from  a  mere  assumption.  It  first  takes  for 
granted  that  the  Sabbath-day  during  which  God  rested  was 
a  day  of  but  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  argues  from  the  sup- 
position that,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  proportion  between  the 
six  previous  working  days  and  the  seventh  day  of  rest,  which 
the  reason  annexed  to  the  fourth  commandment  demands, 
these  previous  days  must  also  have  been  twenty-four  hours 
each.  It  would,  I  have  begun  to  suspect,  square  better  with 
the  ascertained  facts,  and  be  at  least  equally  in  accordance 
with  Scripture,  to  reverse  the  process,  and  argue  that  because 
God's  working  days  were  immensely  protracted  periods,  his 
Sabbath  also  must  be  an  immensely  protracted  period.  The 
reason  attached  to  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  seems  to  be  sim- 
ply a  reason  of  proportion  :  the  objection  to  which  I  refer  is 
an  objection  palpably  founded  on  considerations  of  propor- 
tion, and  certainly  were  the  reason  to  be  divested  of  propor- 
tion, it  would  be  divested  also  of  its  distinctive  character  as  a 
reason.  "Were  it  as  follows,  it  could  not  be  at  all  understood : 
"  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,  etc. ;  but  on  the  seventh  day 
shalt  thou  do  no  labor,  etc. ;  for  in  six  immensely  protracted 
periods  of  several  thousand  years  each  did  the  Lord  make 
the  heavens  and  the  earth,  etc.;  and  then  rested  during  a 
brief  day  of  twenty-four  hours  ;  therefore  the  Lord  blessed 
the  brief  day  of  twenty-four  hours  and  hallowed  it."  This, 
I  repeat,  would  not  be  reason.  All,  how-ever,  that  seems  nec- 
essary to  the  integrit}''  of  the  reason,  in  its  character  as  such, 
is  that  the  proportion  of  six  parts  to  seven  should  be  main- 
tained. God's  periods  may  be  periods  expressed  algebraic- 
ally by  letters  symbolical  of  unknown  quantities,  and  man's 
periods  by  letters  symbolical  of  quantities  well  known;  but 


138  TJic  Origin  of  the  World. 

* 

if  God's  Sabbath  be  equal  to  one  of  his  six  working  days, 
and  man's  Sabbath  equal  to  one  of  his  six  working  days,  the 
integrity  of  proportion  is  maintained." 

Not  only  does  this  view  of  the  case  entirely  remove  the  ob- 
jection, but,  as  we  have  already  seen,  it  throws  a  new  light 
on  the  nature  and  reason  of  the  Sabbath.  No  good  reason, 
except  that  of  setting  an  example,  can  be  assigned  for  God's 
resting  for  a  literal  day.  But  if  God's  Sabbath  of  rest  from 
natural  creation  is  still  in  progress,  and  if  our  short  Sabbaths 
are  symbolical  of  the  work  of  that  great  Sabbath  in  its  pres- 
ent gray  morning  and  in  its  coming  glorious  noon,  then  may 
the  Christian  thank  this  question,  incidentally  raised  by  ge- 
ology and  its  long  periods,  for  a  ray  of  light  which  shines 
along  the  whole  course  of  Scripture  history,  from  the  first 
Sabbath  up  to  that  final  "rest  which  remaineth  for  the  peo- 
ple of  God."=^ 

(2.)  It  is  objected  that  evening  and  morning  are  ascribed  to 
the  first  day.  This  has  been  already  noticed ;  it  may  here 
be  considered  more  fully.  The  word  evening  in  the  original 
is  literally  the  darkening,  the  sunset,  the  dusk.  Morning  is 
the  opening  ox  breaking  forth  of  light — the  daybreak.  It  must 
not  be  denied  that  the  explanation  of  these  terms  is  attended 
with  some  difficulty,  but  this  is  not  at  all  lessened  by  narrow- 
ing the  day  to  twenty-four  hours.  The  first  operation  of  the 
first  day  was  the  creation  of  light;  next  we  have  the  Creator 
contemplating  his  work  and  pronouncing  it  to  be  good ;  then 
we  have  the  separation  of  the  light  and  darkness,  previously, 
it  is  to  be  presumed,  intermixed;  and  all  this  without  the 
presence  of  a  sun  or  other  luminar}'.    Which  of  these  opera- 

*  This  idea  occurs  in  Lord  Bacon's  *'  Confession  of  Faith,"  and  De  Luc 
also  maintains  that  the  Creator's  Sabbath  must  have  been  of  long  contin- 
uance. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  139 

tions  occupied  the  evening,  and  which  the  morning,  if  the 
day  consisted  of  but  twenty-four  hours,  beginning,  according 
to  Hebrew  custom,  in  the  evening?  Was  the  old  primeval 
darkness  the  evening  or  night,  and  the  first  breaking  forth 
of  liglit  morning?  This  is  almost  the  only  view  compatible 
with  the  Hebrew  civil  day  beginning  at  evening,  but  it  would 
at  once  lengthen  the  day  beyond  twenty-four  hours,  and  con- 
tradict the  terms  of  the  record.  Again,  were  the  separated 
light  and  darkness  the  morning  and  evening?  If  so,  why  is 
the  evening  mentioned  first,  contrary  to  the  supposed  facts 
of  the  case?  why,  indeed,  are  the  evening  and  morning  men- 
tioned at  all,  since  on  that  supposition  this  is  merely  a  rep- 
etition ?  Lastly,  shall  we  adopt  the  ingenious  expedient  of 
dividing  the  evening  and  morning  between  two  days,  and 
maintaining  that  the  evening  belongs  to  the  first  and  the 
morning  to  the  second  day,  which  would  deprive  the  first 
day  of  a  morning,  and  render  the  creative  days,  whatever 
their  length,  altogether  different  from  Hebrew  natural  or 
civil  days  ?  It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  such  inquiries  far- 
ther, since  it  is  evident  that  the  terms  of  the  record  will  not 
agree  with  the  supposition  of  natural  evening  and  morning. 
This  is  of  itself  a  strong  presumption  against  the  hypothesis 
of  civil  days,  since  the  writer  was  under  no  necessity  so  to 
word  these  verses  that  they  would  not  give  any  rational  or 
connected  sense  on  the  supposition  of  natural  evening  and 
morning,  unless  he  wished  to  be  otherwise  understood. 

But  what  is  the  meaning  of  evening  and  morning,  if  these 
days  were  long  periods  ?  Here  fewer  difficulties  meet  us. 
First:  It  is  readily  conceivable  that  the  beginning  and  end 
of  a  period  named  a  day  should  be  called  evening  and  morn- 
ing. But  what  made  the  use  of  these  divisions  necessary  or 
appropriate  ?     I  answer  that  nature  and  revelation  both  give 


140  TJie  Origi?i  of  the  World. 

grounds  at  least  to  suspect  that  the  evening,  or  earlier  part 
of  each  period,  was  a  time  of  comparative  inaction,  sometimes 
even  of  retrogression,  and  that  the  latter  part  of  each  period 
was  that  of  its  greatest  activity  and  perfection.  Thus,  on  the 
views  stated  in  a  former  chapter,  in  the  first  day  there  was  a 
time  when  luminous  matter,  either  gradually  concentrating 
itself  toward  the  sun,  or  surrounding  the  earth  itself,  shed  a 
dim  but  slowly  increasing  light;  then  there  were  day  and 
night,  the  light  increasing  in  intensity  as,  toward  the  end  of 
the  period,  the  luminous  matter  became  more  and  more  con- 
centrated around  the  sun.  So  in  our  own  seventh  day,  the 
earlier  part  was  a  time  of  deplorable  retrogression,  and 
though  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  has  arisen,  we  have  seen 
as  yet  only  a  dim  and  cloudy  morning.  On  the  theory  of 
days  of  vision,  as  expounded  by  Hugh  Miller,  in  the  "Testi- 
mony of  the  Rocks,"  in  one  of  his  noblest  passages,  the  even- 
ing and  night  fall  on  each  picture  presented  to  the  seer  like 
the  curtain  of  a  stage.  Secondly :  Though  the  explanation 
stated  above  is  the  most  probable,  the  hypothesis  of  long 
periods  admits  of  another,  namely,  that  the  writer  means  to 
inform  us  that  evening  and  morning,  once  established  by  the 
separation  of  light  from  darkness,  continued  without  cessa- 
tion throughout  the  remainder  of  the  period — rolling  from 
this  time  uninterruptedly  around  our  planet,  like  the  seal  cyl- 
inder over  the  clay.*  This  explanation  is,  however,  less  ap- 
plicable to  the  following  days  than  to  the  first.  Nor  does 
this  accord  with  the  curious  fact  that  the  seventh  day,  which, 
on  the  h3'pothesis  of  long  periods,  is  still  in  progress,  is  not 
said  to  have  had  an  evening  or  morning. 

(3.)  It  is  objected  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  "  is  not  a 

*  See  the  quotation  from  Job,  supra. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  141 

poem  nor  a  piece  of  oratorical  diction,"  but  a  simple  prosaic 
narrative,  and  consequently  that  its  terms  must  be  taken  in  a 
literal  sense.  In  answer  to  this,  I  urge  that  the  most  truly 
literal  sense  of  the  word,  namely,  the  natural  day,  is  excluded 
by  the  terms  of  the  narrative ;  and  that  the  word  may  be 
received  as  a  literal  day  of  the  Creator,  in  the  sense  of  one 
of  his  working  periods,  without  involving  the  use  of  poetical 
diction,  and  in  harmony  with  the  wording  of  plain  prosaic 
passages  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible.  Examples  of  this  have 
already  been  given.  It  is,  however,  true  that,  though  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  is  not  strictly  poetical,  it  is  thrown  into  a 
metrical  form  which  admits  of  some  approach  to  a  figurative 
expression  in  the  case  of  a  term  of  this  kind. 

(4.)  It  has  been  urged  that  in  cases  where  day  is  used  to 
denote  period,  as  in  the  expressions  "  day  of  calamity,"  etc., 
the  adjuncts  plainly  show  that  it  can  not  mean  an  ordinary 
day.  In  answer  to  this,  I  merely  refer  to  the  internal  evi- 
dence already  adduced,  and  to  the  deliberate  character  of  the 
statements,  in  the  manner  rather  of  the  description  of  proc- 
esses than  of  acts.  The  difficulties  attending  the  explana- 
tion of  the  evening  and  the  morning,  and  the  successive  crea- 
tion of  herbivorous  and  carnivorous  animals,  are  also  strong 
indications  which  should  serve  here  to  mark  the  sense,  just 
as  the  context  does  in  the  cases  above  referred  to. 

(5.)  In  Professor  Hitchcock's  valuable  and  popular  "Re- 
ligion of  Geology,"  I  find  some  additional  objections,  which 
deserve  notice  as  specimens  of  the  learned  trifles  which  pass 
current  among  writers  on  this  subject,  much  to  the  detriment 
of  sound  Scriptural  literature.  I  give  them  in  the  words  of 
the  author,  i.  "From  Genesis  ii.,  5  compared  with  Genesis 
i.,  II  and  12,  it  seems  that  it  had  not  rained  on  the  earth  till 
the  third  day ;  a  fact  altogether  probable  if  the  days  were  of 


142  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

twenty-four  hours,  but  absurd  if  they  were  long  periods."  It 
strikes  us  that  the  absurdity  here  is  all  on  the  side  of  the 
short  days.  Why  should  any  prominence  be  given  to  a  fact 
so  common  as  the  lapse  of  two  ordinary  days  without  rain, 
more  especially  if  a  region  of  the  earth  and  not  the  whole  is 
referred  to,  and  in  a  document  prepared  for  a  people  residing 
in  climates  such  as  those  of  Egypt  and  Palestine.  But  what 
could  be  more  instructive  and  confirmatory  of  the  truth  of  the 
narrative  than  the  fact  that  in  the  two  long  periods  which  pre- 
ceded the  formation  and  clearing  up  of  the  atmosphere  or 
firmament,  on  which  rain  depends,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
dry  land,  which  so  greatly  modifies  its  distribution,  there  had 
been  no  rain  such  as  now  occurs.  This  is  a  most  important 
fact,  and  one  of  the  marked  coincidences  of  the  record  with 
scientific  truth.  The  objection,  therefore,  merely  shows  that 
the  ordinary  day  h3'pothesis  tends  to  convert  one  of  the  finest 
internal  harmonies  of  this  wonderful  history  into  an  empty 
and,  in  some  respects,  absurd  commonplace.  2.  "This  hy- 
pothesis (that  days  are  long  periods)  assumes  that  Moses  de- 
scribes the  creation  of  all  the  animals  and  plants  that  have 
ever  lived  on  our  globe.  But  geology  decides  that  the  spe- 
cies now  living,  since  they  are  not  found  in  the  rocks  any 
lower  than  man  is,*  could  not  have  been  contemporaneous 
with  those  in  the  rocks,  but  must  have  been  created  when 
man  was — that  is,  in  the  sixth  day.  Of  such  a  creation  no 
mention  is  made  in  Genesis;  the  inference  is  that  Moses  does 
not  describe  the  creation  of  the  existing  races,  but  only  of 
those  that  lived  thousands  of  years  earlier,  and  whose  exist- 

*  This  is  not  strictly  correct,  as  many  animals,  especially  of  the  lower 
tribes,  extend  back  to  the  early  tertiary  periods,  long  before  the  creation 
of  man;  a  fact  which  of  itself  is  irreconcilable  with  the  Mosaic  narrative 
on  the  theory  of  literal  or  ordinary  days. 


Light  and  Creative  Days,  143 

ence  was  scarcely  suspected  till  modern  times.  Who  will 
admit  such  an  absurdity?"  In  answer  to  this  objection,  I  re- 
mark that  it  is  based  on  a  false  assumption.  The  hypothesis 
of  long  periods  does  not  require  us  to  assume  that  Moses  no- 
tices all  the  animals  and  plants  that  have  ever  lived,  but  on 
the  contrar)'  that  he  informs  us  only  of  the^rst  appearance  of 
each  great  natural  type  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  king- 
doms ;  just  as  he  informs  us  of  the  first  appearance  of  dry 
land  on  the  third  day,  but  says  nothing  of  the  changes  which 
it  underwent  on  subsequent  days.  Thus  plants  were  created 
on  the  third  day,  and  though  they  may  have  been  several 
times  destroyed  and  renewed  as  to  genera  and  species,  we 
infer  that  they  continued  to  exist  in  all  the  succeeding  days, 
though  the  inspired  historian  does  not  inform  us  of  the  fact. 
So  also  many  tribes  of  animals  were  created  in  the  early  part 
of  the  fifth  day,  and  it  is  quite  unnecessary  for  us  to  be  in- 
formed that  these  tribes  continued  to  exist  through  the  sixth 
day.  If  the  days  were  long  periods,  the  inspired  writer  could 
not  have  adopted  any  other  course,  unless  he  had  been  in- 
structed to  write  a  treatise  on  Palaeontology,  and  to  describe 
the  fauna  and  flora  of  each  successive  period  with  their  char- 
acteristic differences.  3.  "  Though  there  is  a  general  resem- 
blance between  the  order  of  creation  as  described  in  Genesis 
and  by  geology,  yet  when  we  look  at  the  details  of  the  crea- 
tion of  the  organic  world,  as  required  by  this  hypothesis,  we 
find  manifest  discrepancy.  Thus  the  Bible  represents  plants 
only  to  have  been  created  on  the  third  day,  and  animals  not 
till  the  fifth ;  and  hence  at  least  the  lower  half  of  the  fossilif- 
erous  rocks  ought  to  contain  nothing  but  vegetables.  Where- 
as in  fact  the  lower  half  of  these  rocks,  all  below  the  carbon- 
iferous, although  abounding  in  animals,  contain  scarcely  any 
plants,  and  these  in  the  low^est  strata  fucoids  or  sea-weeds. 


144  ^'^"^  Origin  of  the   World. 

But  the  Mosaic  account  evidently  describes  flowering  and 
seed-bearing  plants,  not  flowerless  and  seedless  algse.  Again, 
reptiles  are  described  in  Genesis  as  created  on  the  fifth  day; 
but  reptilia  and  batrachians  existed  as  early  as  the  time  when 
the  lower  carboniferous  and  even  old  red  sandstone  were  in 
course  of  deposition,  as  their  tracks  on  those  rocks  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  Pennsylvania  evince.*  In  short,  if  we  maintain 
that  Moses  describes  fossils  as  well  as  living  species,  we  find 
discrepancy  instead  of  correspondence  between  his  order  of 
creation  and  that  of  geology."  In  this  objection  it  is  assumed 
that  the  geological  history  of  the  earth  goes  back  to  the  third 
day  of  creation,  or,  in  other  words,  to  the  dawn  of  organic  life. 
None  of  the  greater  authorities  in  geology  would,  however, 
now  venture  to  make  such  an  assertion,  and  the  progress  of 
geology  is  rapidly  making  the  contrary  more  and  more  prob- 
able. The  fact  is  that,  on  the  supposition  that  the  days  of 
creation  are  long  periods,  the  whole  series  of  the  fossiliferous 
rocks  belongs  to  the  fifth  and  sixth  days;  and  that  for  the 
early  plant  creation  of  the  third  day,  and  the  great  physical 
changes  of  the  fourth,  geology  has  nothing  as  yet  to  sho'w,  ex- 
cept a  mass  of  metamorphosed  eozoic  rocks  which  have  hither- 
to yielded  no  fossils  except  a  few  Protozoa ;  but  which  con- 
tain vast  quantities  of  carbon  in  the  form  of  graphite,  which 
may  be  the  remains  of  plants. 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  quoting,  as  a  further  answer  to 
these  objections,  the  following  from  Professor  Dana  :t 

"Accepting  the  account  in  Genesis  as  true,  the  seeming 

*  Since  this  was  written,  the  bones  of  many  Batrachian  reptiles  have 
been  found  in  the  Carboniferous,  both  in  Europe  and  America.  No  rep- 
tilian remains  have  yet  been  found  in  the  Devonian  rocks. 

^  Biblical  Repository,  1856.  See  also  an  excellent  paper  by  Prof.  C.  H. 
Hitchcock,  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1867. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  145 

discrepancy  between  it  and  geology  rests  mainly  here  :  Geol- 
ogy holds,  and  has  held  from  the  first,  that  the  progress  of 
creation  was  mainly  through  secondary  causes;  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  science  presupposes  this.  Moses,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  thought  to  sustain  the  idea  of  a  simple  fiat  for  each 
step.  Grant  this  first  point  to  science,  and  what  farther  con- 
flict is  there  .^  The  question  of  the  length  of  ti?ne,  it  is  replied. 
But  not  so ;  for  if  we  may  take  the  record  as  allowing  more 
than  six  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  the  Bible  then  places  no 
limit  to  time.  The  question  of  the  days  a7id  periods,  it  is  replied 
again.  But  this  is  of  little  moment  in  comparison  with  the 
first  principle  granted.  Those  who  admit  the  length  of  time 
and  stand  upon  days  of  twenty-four  hours  have  to  place  ge- 
ological time  before  the  six  days,  and  then  assume  a  chaos 
and  reordering  of  creation,  on  the  six-day  and  fiat  principle, 
after  a  previous  creation  that  had  operated  for  a  long  period 
through  secondary  causes.  Others  take  days  as  periods,  and 
thus  allow  the  required  time,  admitting  that  creation  was  one 
in  progress,  a  grand  whole,  instead  of  ayfrj"^  creation  except- 
ing man  by  one  method,  and  a  second  with  man  by  the  other. 
This  is  now  the  remaining  question  between  the  theologians 
and  geologists ;  for  all  the  minor  points,  as  to  the  exact  in- 
terpretation of  each  day,  do  not  affect  the  general  concord- 
ance or  discordance  of  the  Bible  and  science. 

"  On  this  point  geology  is  now  explicit  in  its  decision,  and 
indeed  has  long  been  so.  It  proves  that  there  was  no  return 
to  chaos,  no  great  revolution,  that  creation  was  beyond  doubt 
one  in  its  progress.  We  know  that  some  geologists  have 
taken  the  other  view\  But  it  is  only  in  the  capacity  of  theo- 
logians, and  not  as  geologists.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Buckland,  in 
placing  the  great  events  of  geology  between  the  first  and  sec- 
ond verses  of  the  Mosaic  account,  did  not  pretend  that  there 

G 


146  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

was  a  geological  basis  for  such  an  hypothesis ;  and  no  writer 
since  has  ever  brought  forward  the  first  fact  in  geology  to 
support  the  idea  of  a  rearrangement  just  before  man ;  not 
one  solitary  fact  has  ever  been  appealed  to.  The  conclusion 
was  on  Biblical  grounds,  and  not  in  any  sense  on  geological. 
The  best  that  Buckland  could  say,  when  he  wrote  twenty-five 
years  since,  was  that  geology  did  not  absolutely  disprove 
such  an  hypothesis ;  and  that  can  not  be  said  now. 

"It  is  often  asserted,  in  order  to  unsettle  confidence  in  these 
particular  teachings  of  geology,  that  geology  is  a  changing 
science.  In  this  connection  the  remark  conveys  an  errone- 
ous impression.  Geology  is  a  progressive  science;  and  all 
its  progress  tends  to  establish  more  firmly  these  two  prin- 
ciples:  (i)  The  slow  progress  of  creation  through  secondary 
causes,  as  explained;  and  (2)  the  progress  by  periods  analo- 
gous to  the  days  of  Genesis." 

I  have,  I  trust,  shown  that  the  principal  objections  to  the 
lengthening  of  the  Mosaic  days  into  great  cosmical  periods 
are  of  a  character  too  light  and  superficial  to  deserve  any  re- 
gard. I  shall  now  endeavor  to  add  to  the  internal  evidence 
previously  given  some  considerations  of  an  external  charac- 
ter which  support  this  view. 

I.  The  fact  that  the  creation  was  progressive,  that  it  pro- 
ceeded from  the  formation  of  the  raw  material  of  the  universe, 
through  successive  stages,  to  the  perfection  of  living  organ- 
isms, if  we  regard  the  analogy  of  God's  operations  as  dis- 
closed in  the  geological  history  of  the  earth  and  in  the  pres- 
ent course  of  nature,  must  impress  us  with  a  suspicion  that 
long  periods  were  employed  in  the  work.  God  might  have 
prepared  the  earth  for  man  in  an  instant.  He  did  not  choose 
to  do  so,  but  on  the  contrary  proceeded  step  by  step;  and  the 
record  he  has  given  us  does  not  receive  its  full  significance 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  147 

nor  attain  its  full  harmony  with  the  course  of  geological  his- 
tory, unless  we  can  understand  each  day  of  the  creative  week 
as  including  a  long  succession  of  ages. 

2.  We  have,  as  already  explained,  reason  to  believe  that 
the  seventh  day  at  least  has  been  of  long  duration.  At  the 
close  of  the  si.xth,  God  rested  from  all  his  work  of  material 
creation,  and  we  have  as  yet  no  evidence  that  he  has  re- 
sumed it.  Neither  theologians  nor  evolutionists  will,  I  pre- 
sume, desire  to  maintain  that  any  strictly  creative  acts  have 
occurred  in  the  modern  period  of  geology.  We  know  that 
the  present  day,  if  it  is  the  seventh,  has  lasted  already  for 
at  least  six  thousand  years,  and,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
testimony  of  prophecy,  has  yet  a  long  space  to  run,  before 
it  merges  in  that  "  new  heaven  and  new  earth  "  for  which 
all  believers  look,  and  which  will  constitute  the  first  day  of 
an  endless  sabbatism. 

3.  The  philosophical  and  religious  systems  of  many  ancient 
nations  afford  intimations  of  the  somewhat  extensive  preva- 
lence in  ancient  times  of  the  notion  of  long  creative  periods, 
corresponding  to  the  Mosaic  days.  These  notions,  in  so  far 
as  they  are  based  on  truth,  are  probably  derived  from  the 
Mosaic  narrative  itself,  or  from  the  primitive  patriarchal  doc- 
uments which  may  have  formed  the  basis  of  that  narrative. 
They  are,  no  doubt,  all  more  or  less  garbled  versions,  and 
can  not  be  regarded  as  of  any  authorit}',  but  they  serve  to 
show  what  was  the  interpretation  of  the  document  in  a  very 
remote  antiquity.  I  have  collected  from  a  variety  of  sources 
the  following  examples : 

The  ancient  mythology  of  Persia  appears  to  have  had  six 
creative  periods,  each  apparently  of  a  thousand  years,  and 
corresponding   very    nearly   with    the    Mosaic    days.*     The 

*  Rhode,  quoted  by  McDonald,  "Creation  and  the  Fall,"  p.  62  ;  Euse- 
bius,  Chron.  Arm, 


148  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

Chaldeans  had  a  similar  system,  to  which  in  a  previous 
chapter  we  have  already  referred.  The  Etruscans  possessed 
a  history  of  the  creation,  somewhat  resembling  that  of  the 
Bible,  and  representing  the  creation  as  occupying  six  periods 
of  a  thousand  years  each.* 

The  Egyptians  believed  that  the  world  had  been  subject 
to  a  series  of  destructions  and  renewals,  the  intervals  between 
which  amounted  to  120,000  years,  or,  according  to  other  au- 
thorities, to  300,000  or  360,000  years.  This  system  of  de- 
struction and  renewal  the  Egyptian  priests  appear  to  have 
wrought  out  into  considerable  detail,  but  though  important 
truths  may  be  concealed  under  their  mysterious  dogmas,  it 
will  not  repay  us  to  dwell  on  the  fragments  that  remain  of 
them.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  at  least  the  ba- 
sis of  the  Egyptian  cosmogony  must  have  been  the  common 
property  of  all  the  Hamite  nations,  of  which  Egypt  was  the 
greatest  and  most  permanent ;  and  therefore  in  all  probabil- 
ity derived  from  the  ideas  of  creation  which  were  current  not 
long  after  the  Deluge.  The  Egyptians  appear  also,  as  already 
stated,  to  have  had  a  physical  cosmogony,  beginning  with  a 
chaos  in  which  heaven  and  earth  were  mingled,  and  from 
wdiich  were  evolved  fiery  matters  which  ascended  into  the 
heavens,  and  moist  earthy  matters  which  formed  the  earth 
and  the  sea ;  and  from  these  were  produced,  by  the  agency 
of  solar  heal",  the  various  animals.  The  terms  of  this  cosmog- 
ony, as  it  is  given  by  Diodorus  Siculus,  indicate  the  belief  of 
long  formative  periods.f 

The  Hindoos  have  a  somewhat  extended,  though,  accord- 
ing to  the  translations,  a  not  very  intelligible  cosmogony.     It 

*  Suidas,  Lexicon — '*  Tyrrenia." 

t  Diodorus  Siculus,  bk.  i.     Prichard,  Egyptian  Mythology. 


Light  and  Creative  Days,  149 

plainly,  however,  asserts  long  periods  of  creative  work,  and  is 
interesting  as  an  ancient  cosmogony  preserved  entire  and 
without  transmission  through  secondary  channels.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  summary,  in  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  gather 
it,  from  the  translation  of  the  Institutes  of  Menu  by  Sir  W. 
Jones.* 

The  introduction  to  the  Institutes  represents  Menu  as 
questioned  by  the  "  divine  sages "  respecting  the  laws  that 
should  regulate  all  classes  or  castes.  He  proceeds  to  detail 
the  course  of  creation,  stating  that  the  "  Self-existing  Power,t 
undiscovered,  but  making  this  world  discernible.  He  whom 
the  mind  alone  can  perceive,  whose  essence  eludes  the  ex- 
ternal senses,  who  has  no  visible  parts,  w^ho  exists  from  eter- 
nity, even  the  soul  of  all  being,  whom  no  being  can  compre- 
hend, shone  forth  in  person." 

After  giving  this  exalted  view  of  the  Creator,  the  writer  pro- 
ceeds to  state  that  the  Self-existent  created  the  waters,  and 
then  an  ^gg^  from  which  he  himself  comes  forth  as  Brahma 
the  forefather  of  spirits.  "The  waters  are  called  Nara  be- 
cause they  are  the  production  oi  Nara,  the  spirit  of  God,  and 
since  they  were  his  first  Ayajia,  or  place  of  motion,  he  thence 
is  named  Naraya?ia,  or  moving  on  the  waters.  In  the  ^gg 
Brahma  remained  a  year,  and  caused  the  egg  to  divide,  form- 
ing the  heaven  above  and  the  earth  beneath,  and  the  subtile 
ether,  the  eight  regions,  and  the  receptacle  of  waters  between. 
He  then  drew  forth  from  the  supreme  soul  mind  with  all  its 
powers  and  properties."  The  rest  of  the  account  appears  to 
be  very  confused,  and  I  confess  to  a  great  extent  unintelli- 


*  "Asiatic  Researches." 

t  This  name  is  exactly  identical  in  meaning  with  the  Hebrew  Jehovah 
Elohim. 


150  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

gible  to  me.  There  follows,  however,  a  continuation  of  the 
narrative,  stating  that  there  is  a  succession  of  seven  Menus, 
each  of  whom  produces  and  supports  the  earth  during  his 
reisfn.  It  is  in  the  account  of  these  successive  Menus  that 
the  following  statement  respecting  the  days  and  years  of 
Brahma  occurs  : 

"A  day  of  the  Gods  is  equal  to  a  year.  Four  thousand 
years  of  the  Gods  are  called  a  Critya  or  Satya  age.  Four 
ages  are  an  age  of  the  Gods.  One  thousand  divine  ages  {equal 
to  more  thaii  four  millions  of  human  years)  are  a  day  of  Brah- 
ma the  C?rator.  Seventy-two  divine  ages  are  one  manwan- 
tara.  *  *  *  The  aggregate  of  four  ages  they  call  a  divine 
age,  and  believe  that  in  every  thousand  such  ages,  or  in  every 
day  of  Brahma,  fourteen  Menus  are  successively  invested 
with  the  sovereignty  of  the  isarth.  Each  Menu  they  sup- 
pose transmits  his  authority  to  his  sons  and  grandsons  dur- 
ing a  period  of  seventy-tw^o  divine  ages,  and  such  a  period 
they  call  a  manwantara.  Thirty  such  days  (of  the  Creator), 
or  calpas,  constitute  a  month  of  Brahma;  twelve  such  months 
one  of  his  years,  and  100  such  years  his  age,  of  which  they 
assert  that  fifty  years  have  elapsed.  We  are  thus,  according 
to  the  Hindoos,  in  the  first  day  or  calpa  of  the  fifty-first  year 
of  Brahma's  life,  and  in  the  twenty-eighth  divine  age  of  the 
seventh  manwa?itara  of  that  day.  In  the  present  day  of 
Brahma  the  first  jMenu  was  named  the  Son  of  the  Self-exist- 
ent, and  by  him  the  institutes  of  religion  and  civil  duties  are 
said  to  have  been  delivered.  In  his  time  occurred  a  new  crea- 
tion called  the  Lotos  creation."  Of  five  Menus  who  succeed- 
ed him,  Sir  William  could  find  little  but  the  names,  but  the 
accounts  of  the  seventh  are  very  full,  and  it  appears  that  in 
his  reign  the  earth  was  destroyed  by  a  flood.  Sir  William 
suggests  that  the  first  Menu  may  represent  the  creation,  and 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  151 

that  the  seventh  may  be  Noah.     The  name  Menu  or  Manu  is 
equivalent  to  "man,"  and  signifies  "the  intelligent."* 

In  this  Hindoo  cosmogony  we  have  many  points  of  corre- 
spondence ^Yith  the  Scripture  narrative  :  for  instance,  the 
Self-existent  Creator  ;  the  agency  of  the  Son  of  God  and 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  absolute  creation  of  matter ;  the  hov- 
ering of  the  Spirit  over  the  primeval  waters  ;  the  sevenfold 
division  of  the  creative  process ;  and  the  idea  of  days  of 
the  Creator  of  immense  duration.  If  we  suppose  the  day 
of  Brahma  in  the  Hindoo  cosmogony  to  represent  the  Mo- 
saic day,  then  it  amounts  to  no  less  than  4,320,000  years  ;  or 
if,  with  Sir  W.  Jones,  we  suppose  the  manwantara  to  repre- 
sent the  Mosaic  day,  its  duration  will  be  308,571  years;  and 
the  total  antiquity  of  the  earth,  without  counting  the  unde- 
fined "beginning,"  will  be  either  more  than  twenty-five  or 
than  two  millions  of  years.  It  would  be  folly,  however,  to 
suppose  that  these  Hindoo  numbers,  which  are  probably 
purely  conjectural,  or  based  on  astronomical  cycles,  make 
any  near  approximation  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  The  Insti- 
tutes of  Menu  are  probably  in  their  present  form  not  of  great 
antiquity,  but  there  are  other  Hindoo  documents  of  greater 
age  which  maintain  similar  views,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
account  of  the  creation  in  the  Institutes  is  at  least  an  imper- 
fect version  of  the  original  narrative  as  it  existed  among 
the  earliest  colonists  of  India.f  It  corresponds  in  many 
points  with  the  oldest  notions  on  these  subjects  that  remain 
to  us  in  the  wrecks  of  the  mythology  of  Egypt  and  other  an- 

*  Miiller,  Sanscrit  Literature. 

t  The  theology  of  the  Institutes  is  clearly  primitive  Semitic  in  its  char- 
acter ;  and  therefore,  if  the  Bible  is  true,  must  be  older  than  the  Arj-an 
theogony  of  the  Rig-Veda,  as  expounded  by  Miiller,  whatever  the  relative 
age  of  the  documents. 


152  The  Orighi  of  the  World. 

cient  nations,  and  it  aids  in  proving  that  the  fabulous  ages  of 
gods  and  demi-gods  in  the  ancient  mythologies  are  really pre- 
Ada7nite ;  and  belong  not  to  human  history,  but  to  the  work  of 
creation.    It  also  shows  that  the  idea  of  long  creative  periods 
as  equivalents  of  the  Mosaic  days  must,  in  the  infancy  of  the 
postdiluvian  world,  have  been  very  widely  diffused.      Such 
evidence  is,  no  doubt,  of  small  authority  in  the  interpretatio  .. 
of  Scripture  ;  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  serious  considera- 
tion is  due  to  a  method  of  interpretation  which  thus  tends  to 
bring  the  Mosaic  account  into  harmony  with  the  facts  of 
modern  science,  and  with  the  belief  of  almost  universal  an- 
tiquity, and  at  the  same  time  gives  it  its  fullest  significance 
and  most  perfect  internal  symmetry  of  parts.     It  is  also  very 
interesting  to  note  the  wide  diffusion  among  the  most  ancient 
nations  of  cosmological  views  identical  in  their  main  features 
with  those  of  the  Bible,  proving,  almost  beyond  doubt,  that 
these  views  had  some  common  and  very  ancient  source,  and 
commanded  universal  belief  among  the  primitive  tribes  of  men. 
I  have  hitherto  in  this  part  of  the  discussion  avoided  de- 
tailed reference  to  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  "  prophetic 
day"  view  of  the  narrative  of  creation.     This  may  be  shortly 
stated  as  follows  :  In  the  prophetical  parts  of  Scripture  the 
prophet  sees  in  vision,  as  in  a  picture  or  acted  scene,  the 
events  that  are  to  come  to  pass,  and  in  consequence  repre- 
sents years  or  longer  periods  by  days  of  vision.     Now  the 
revelation  of  the  pre-Adamite  past  is  in  its  nature  akin  to 
that  of  the  unknown  future ;  and  Moses  may  have  seen  these 
wondrous  events  in  vision — in  visions  of  successive  days — 
under  the  guise  of  which  he  presents  geological  time.     Some 
things  in  the  form  of  the  narrative  favor  this  view,  and  it  cer- 
tainly affords  the  most  clearly  intelligible  theory  as  to  the 
mode  in  which  such  a  revelation  may  have  been  made  to 


LigJit  and  Creative  Days.  153 

man.  It  is  advocated  by  Kurtz,  by  the  author  of  an  excel- 
lent little  work,  the  "  Harmony  of  the  Mosaic  and  Geological 
Records,"  by  Hugh  ]\liller,  and  more  recently  by  Tayler 
Lewis.  To  these  writers  I  must  refer  for  its  more  full  il- 
lustration, and  for  the  grand  pictorial  view  which  it  gives  of 
the  vision  of  the  creative  week. 

In  reviewing  the  somewhat  lengthy  train  of  reasoning  into 
which  the  term  "day"  has  led  us,  it  appears  that  from  internal 
evidence  alone  it  can  be  rendered  probable  that  the  day  of 
creation  is  neither  the  natural  nor  the  civil  day.  It  also  ap- 
pears that  the  objections  urged  against  the  doctrine  of  day- 
periods  are  of  no  weight  when  properly  scrutinized,  and  that 
it  harmonizes  with  the  progressive  nature  of  the  work,  the 
evidence  of  geology,  and  the  cosmological  notions  of  ancient 
nations.  I  do  not  suppose  that  this  position  has  been  incon- 
trovertibly  established ;  but  I  believe  that  every  serious  dif- 
ficulty has  been  removed  from  its  acceptance  j  and  with  this, 
for  the  present,  I  remain  satisfied.  Every  step  of  our  subse- 
quent progress  will  afford  new  criteria  of  its  truth  or  fallacy. 

One  further  question  of  some  interest  is — What,  according 
to  the  theory  of  long  creative  days  and  the  testimony  of  ge- 
ology, would  be  the  length  and  precise  cosmical  nature  of 
these  days  .-*  With  regard  to  the  first  part  of  the  question, 
we  do  not  know  the  actual  value  of  our  geological  ages  in 
time  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  each  great  creative  aeon  may 
have  extended  through  millions  of  years.  As  to  the  nature 
of  the  days,  this  may  have  been  determined  by  direct  voli- 
tions of  the  Creator,  or  indirectly  by  some  of  those  great 
astronomical  cycles  which  arise  from  the  varying  eccentricity 
of  the  earth's  orbit,  or  the  diminution  of  the  velocity  of  its 
rotation,  or  by  its  gradual  cooling. 

With  reference  to  these  points,  science  has  as  yet  little  in- 

G  2 


154  T^^^^  Origin  of  the  World. 

formation  to  give.  Sir  William  Thomson  has,  indeed,  indi- 
cated for  the  time  since  the  earth's  crust  first  began  to  form 
a  period  of  between  one  and  two  hundred  millions  of  years; 
but  Professor  Guthrie  Tait,  on  the  other  hand,  argues  that 
ten  or  fifteen  millions  of  years  are  probably  sufficient,*  and 
Lockyer  has  suggested  an  hypothesis  of  successive  rekind- 
lings  of  the  solar  heat  which  might  give  a  more  protracted 
time  than  that  of  Thomson.  Some  of  the  hypotheses  of  der- 
ivation current,  but  which  are  based  rather  on  philosophical 
speculation  than  on  scientific  fact,  would  also  require  a 
longer  time  than  that  allowed  by  Thomson ;  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  some  geologists,  by  giving  credence  to  such 
hypotheses  of  derivation,  and  by  loose  reasoning  on  the  time 
required  for  the  denudation  and  deposition  of  rocks,  have 
been  induced  to  commit  themselves  to  very  extravagant  esti- 
mates as  to  geological  time.  On  the  whole,  it  is  evident  that 
only  the  most  vague  guesses  can  at  present  be  based  on  the 
facts  in  our  pT)ssession,  though  the  whole  time  required  has 
unquestionably  been  very  great,  the  deposition  of  the  series 
of  stratified  rocks  probably  requiring  at  least  the  greater  part 
of  the  minimum  time  allowed  by  Thomson.! 

As  to  the  cosmical  nature  of  the  periods,  while  some  geolo- 
gists appear  to  regard  the  whole  of  geological  time  as  a  con- 
tinuous evolution  without  any  breaks,  it  is  evidently  more  in 
accordance  with  facts  to  hold  that  there  have  been  cycles  of 
repose  and  activity  succeeding  each  other,  and  that  these 
have  been  of  different  grades.  In  the  succession  of  deposits 
it  is  plain  that  periods  of  depression  and  upheaval  common 
to  all  the  continental  masses  have  succeeded  each  other  at 


*  "  Recent  Advances  in  Physical  Science." 

t  Croll's  *•  Climate  and  Time  "  contains  some  interesting  facts  as  to  this. 


Light  and  Creative  Days.  155 

somewhat  regular  intervals,  and  that  within  these  periods 
there  have  been  alternations  of  colder  and  warmer  climates. 
These,  however,  are  not  equal  to  the  creative  days  of  our  rec- 
ord, for  they  are  greatly  more  numerous.     They  are  but  the 
vastly  protracted  hours  of  these  almost  endless  days.    Beyond 
and  above  these  there  is  another  grade  of  geological  period, 
marked  not  by  mere  gradual  elevation  and  depression  of  the 
continental  areas,  but  by  vast  crumplings  of  the  earth's  crust 
and  enormous  changes  of  level.     Such  a  great  movement  un- 
questionably closed  the  Eozoic  period  of  geology.     Another 
of  less  magnitude  occurred  in  what  is  termed  the  Permian  age 
at  the  end  of  the  Palaeozoic.     A  third  terminated  the  Meso- 
zoic  age,  and  introduced  the  Tertiary  or  Kainozoic.     Perhaps 
we  should  reckon  the  glacial  age,  though  characterized  by  far 
less  physical  change  than  the  others,  as  a  fourth.     The  pos- 
sible physical  causes  which  have  been  suggested  for  such 
greater  disturbances  are  the  collapses  of  the  crust  in  equa- 
torial regions,  which  may  be  supposed  to  have  resulted  at 
long  intervals  of  time,  from  the  gradual  retardation  of  the 
earth's  rotation  caused  by  the  tides,  or  the  similar  collapses 
and  other  changes  due  to  the  shrinkages  of  the  earth's  inte- 
rior caused  by  its  gradual  cooling,  and  to  the  unequal  deposi- 
tion of  material  by  water  on  different  parts  of  its  surface.* 
The  more  full  discussion  of  these  points  belongs,  however,  to 
a  future  chapter. 

These  greater  movements  of  the  crust,  would,  as  already 
stated,  coincide  to  some  extent  with  the  later  creative  days 
in  the  manner  indicated  below  : 

Collapse  of  crust  at  close  of  Eozoic  )  Close  of  Fourth  ^on,  and  beginning 
Time,  ^  of  Fifth. 


*  See  the  discussion  of  this  in  the  author's  "  Story  of  the  Earth,"  and 
in  Sir  William  Thomson's  British  Association  Address,  1876. 


156  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

Collapse  in  Permian  Period  and  end  )  ^^.^^j^  ^^  ^.^^^  ^^^^ 
of  Palaeozoic  Time,  ' 

Great  subsidence   and  collapse   at )  Close  of  Fifth  ^on,  and  beginning 
close  of  Mesozoic  Age,  >  of  Sixth. 

Great  subsidence  of  the  Pleistocene 
or  Glacial  Age, 


>  End  of  Sixth  /Eon. 


The  question  recurs — Why  are  God's  days  so  long  ?  He 
is  not  Hke  us,  a  being  of  yesterday.  He  is  "  from  01am  to 
01am,"  and  even  in  human  history  one  day  is  with  him  as  a 
thousand  years;  and  we  who  live  in  these  later  days  of  the 
world  know  full  well  how  slow  the  march  of  his  plan  has 
been  even  in  human  history.  We  shall  know  in  the  endless 
ages  of  a  future  eternity  that  even  to  us  these  long  creative 
days  may  at  last  become  but  as  watches  in  the  night. 


The  Atmosphere.  157 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    ATMOSPHERE. 

"And  God  said,  Let  there  be  an  expanse  between  the  waters ;  and  let 
it  separate  the  waters  from  the  waters.  And  God  made  the  expanse,  and 
separated  the  waters  which  are  under  the  expanse  from  the  waters  which 
are  over  the  expanse  :  and  it  was  so.  And  God  called  the  expanse  Heaven. 
And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  second  day." — Genesis  i.  6-8. 

At  the  opening  of  the  period  to  which  we  are  now  intro- 
duced the  earth  was  covered  by  the  waters,  and  these  were 
in  such  a  condition  that  there  was  no  distinction  between  the 
seas  and  the  clouds.  No  atmosphere  separated  them,  or,  in 
other  words,  dense  fogs  and  mists  everywhere  rested  on  the 
surface  of  the  primeval  ocean.  To  understand  as  far  as 
possible  the  precise  condition  of  the  earth's  surface  at  this 
period,  it  will  be  necessary  to  notice  the  present  constitu- 
tion of  the  atmosphere,  especially  in  its  relations  to  aqueous 
vapor. 

The  regular  and  constant  constituents  of  the  atmosphere 
are  the  elements  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  which,  at  the  temper- 
ature and  pressure  existing  on  the  surface  of  our  globe,  are 
permanently  aeriform  or  gaseous.  Beside  these  gases,  the 
air  always  contains  a  quantity  of  the  vapor  of  water  in  a 
perfectly  aeriform  and  transparent  condition.  This  vapor  is 
not,  however,  permanently  gaseous.  At  all  temperatures  be- 
low 212  degrees  it  tends  to  the  liquid  state;  and  its  elastic 
force,  which  preserves  its  particles  in  the  separated  state  of 


158  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

vapor,  increases  or  diminishes  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  the 
increase  or  diminution  of  temperature.  Hence  tlie  quantity 
of  vapor  that  can  be  suspended  in  clear  air  depends  on  the 
temperature  of  the  air  itself.  As  the  temperature  of  the  air 
rises,  its  power  of  sustaining  vapor  increases  more  rapidly 
than  its  temperature  ;  and  as  the  temperature  of  the  air  falls, 
the  elastic  force  of  its  contained  vapor  diminishes  in  a  great- 
er ratio,  until  it  can  exist  as  an  invisible  vapor  no  longer,  but 
becomes  condensed  into  minute  bubbles  or  globules,,  forming 
cloud,  mist,  or  rain.  Two  other  circumstances  operate  along 
with  these  properties  of  air  and  vapor.  The  heat  radiated 
from  the  earth's  surface  causes  the  lower  strata  of  air  to  be, 
in  ordinary  circumstances,  warmer  than  the  higher  ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  warm  air,  being  lighter  than  that  which  is 
colder,  the  warm  layer  of  air  at  the  surface  continually  tends 
to  rise  through  and  above  the  colder  currents  immediately 
over  it.  Let  us  consider  the  operation  of  the  causes  thus 
roughly  sketched  in  a  column  of  calm  air.  The  low'er  por- 
tion becomes  warmed,  and  if  in  contact  with  water  takes  up  a 
quantity  of  its  vapor  proportioned  to  the  temperature,  or  in 
ordinary  circumstances  somewhat  less  than  this  proportion. 
It  then  tends  to  ascend,  and  as  it  rises  and  becomes  mixed 
with  colder  air  it  gradually  loses  its  power  of  sustaining 
moisture,  and  at  a  height  proportioned  to  the  diminution  of 
temperature  and  the  quantity  of  vapor  originally  contained  in 
the  air,  it  begins  to  part  with  water,  which  becomes  con- 
densed in  the  form  of  mist  or  cloud  ;  and  the  surface  at 
which  this  precipitation  takes  place  is  often  still  more  dis- 
tinctly marked  when  two  masses  or  layers  of  air  at  different 
temperatures  become  intermixed ;  in  which  case,  on  the 
principle  already  stated,  the  mean  temperature  produced  is 
unable  to  sustain  the  vapor  proper  to  the  two  extremes,  and 


The  Atmosphere.  159 

moisture  is  precipitated.  It  thus  happens  that  layers  of 
cloud  accumulate  in  the  atmosphere,  while  between  them 
and  the  surface  there  is  a  stratum  of  clear  air.  Fosfs  and 
mists  are  in  the  present  state  of  nature  exceptional  appear- 
ances, depending  generally  on  local  causes,  and  showing 
what  the  world  might  be  but  for  that  balancing  of  temper- 
ature and  the  elastic  force  of  vapor  which  constitutes  the 
atmospheric  firmament.* 

The  quantity  of  water  thus  suspended  over  the  earth  is 
enormous.  "  When  we  see  a  cloud  resolve  itself  into  rain, 
and  pour  out  thousands  of  gallons  of  water,  we  can  not  com- 
prehend how  it  can  float  in  the  atmosphere."t  The  expla- 
nation is — ist,  the  extreme  levity  of  the  minute  globules, 
which  causes  them  to  fall  very  slowly  ;  2d,  they  are  support- 
ed by  currents  of  air,  especially  by  the  ascending  currents 
developed  both  in  still  air  and  in  storms  ;  3dly,  clouds  are 
often  dissolving  on  one  side  and  forming  on  another.  A 
cloud  gradually  descending  may  be  dissolving  away  by  evap- 
oration at  the  base  as  fast  as  new  matter  is  being  added 
above.  On  the  other  hand,  an  ascending  warm  current  of  air 
may  be  constantly  depositing  moisture  at  the  base  of  the 
cloud,  and  this  may  be  evaporating  under  the  solar  rays 
above.  In  this  case  a  cloud  is  "  merely  the  visible  form  of 
an  aerial  space,  in  which  certain  processes  are  at  the  moment 
in  equilibrium,  and  all  the  particles  in  a  state  of  upward 
movement."!  But  so  soon  as  condensation  markedly  ex- 
ceeds evaporation,  rain  falls,  and  the  atmosphere  discharges 
its  vast  load  of  water — how  vast  we  may  gather  from  the  fact 


*  Daniell's  I\reteorological  Essays ;  Prout's  Bridgewater  Treatise ;  art. 
"Meteorology,"  Encyc.  Brit. ;  "Maury's  Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea." 
t  Kaemtz,  "Course  of  Meteorology." 
X  Encyc.  Brit,  art.  "  Meteorology." 


i6o  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

that  the  waters  of  all  the  rivers  are  but  a  part  of  the  overflow- 
ings of  the  great  atmospheric  reservoir.  "God  binds  up  the 
waters  in  his  thick  cloud,  and  the  cloud  is  not  rent  under 
them."  It  is  thus  that  the  terrestrial  waters  are  divided  into 
those  above  and  those  below  that  expanse  of  clear  air  in 
which  we  live  and  move,  exempt  from  the  dense,  dark  mists 
of  the  earth's  earlier  state,  yet  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the 
cloudy  curtain  that  veils  the  burning  sun,  and  of  the  cloudy 
reservoirs  that  drop  down  rain  to  nourish  every  green  thing. 

AVe  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  laws  which  regulate 
mixtures  of  gases  and  vapors  did  not  prevail  in  the  period  in 
question.  It  is  probable  that  these  laws  are  as  old  as  the 
creation  of  matter ;  but  the  condition  of  our  earth  up  to  the 
second  day  must  have  been  such  as  prevented  them  from 
operating  as  at  present.  Such  a  condition  might  possibly  be 
the  result  of  an  excessive  evaporation  occasioned  by  internal 
heat.  The  interior  of  the  earth  still  remains  in  a  heated 
state,  and  includes  large  subterranean  reservoirs  of  melted 
rock,  as  is  proved  by  the  increase  of  temperature  in  deep 
mines  and  borings,  and  by  the  widely  extended  phenomena 
of  hot  springs  and  volcanic  action.  At  the  period  in  question 
the  internal  temperature  of  the  earth  was  probably  vastly 
greater  than  at  present,  and  perhaps  the  whole  interior  of  the 
globe  may  have  been  in  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity.  At  the 
same  time  the  external  solid  crust  may  have  been  thin,  and  it 
was  not  fractured  and  thickened  in  places  by  the  upheaval  of 
mountain  chains  or  the  deposition  of  great  and  unequal  sheets 
of  sediment ;  for,  as  I  may  again  remind  the  reader,  the  prim- 
itive chaos  did  not  consist  of  a  confused  accumulation  of 
rocky  masses,  but  the  earth's  crust  must  then  have  been  more 
smooth  and  unbroken  than  at  any  subsequent  period.  This 
being  the  internal  condition  of  the  earth,  it  is  quite  conceiva- 


The  Atmosphere.  i6i 

ble,  without  any  violation  of  the  existing  laws  of  nature,  that 
the  waters  of  the  ocean,  warmed  by  internal  heat,  may  have 
sent  up  a  sufficient  quantity  of  vapor  to  keep  the  lower  strata 
of  air  in  a  constant  state  of  saturation,  and  to  occasion  an 
equally  constant  precipitation  of  moisture  from  the  colder 
strata  above.  This  would  merely  be  the  universal  operation 
of  a  cause  similar  to  that  which  now  produces  fogs  at  the 
northern  limit  of  the  Atlantic  Gulf  Stream,  and  in  other  lo- 
calities where  currents  of  warm  water  flow  under  or  near  to 
cooler  air.  Such  a  state  of'things  is  more  conceivable  in  a 
globe  covered  with  water,  and  consequently  destitute  of  the 
dry  and  powerfully  radiating  surfaces  which  land  presents, 
and  receiving  from  without  the  rays,  not  of  a  solar  orb,  but  of 
a  comparatively  feeble  and  diffused  luminous  ether.  The 
continued  action  of  these  causes  would  gradually  cool  the 
earth's  crust  and  its  incumbent  waters,  until  the  heat  from 
without  preponderated  over  that  from  within,  when  the  result 
stated  in  the  text  would  be  effected. 

The  statements  of  our  primitive  authority  for  this  condition 
of  the  earth  might  also  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition 
that  the  permanently  gaseous  part  of  the  atmosphere  did  not 
at  the  period  in  question  exist  in  its  present  state,  but  that  it 
was  on  the  second  day  actually  elaborated  and  caused  to  take 
its  place  in  separating  the  atmospheric  from  the  oceanic  wa- 
ters. The  first  is  by  far  the  more  probable  view;  but  we 
may  still  apply  to  such  speculations  the  words  of  Elihu,  the 
friend  of  Job  : 

"  Stand  still  and  consider  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 
Dost  thou  know  when  God  disposes  them, 
And  the  lightning  of  his  cloud  shines  forth  ? 
Dost  thou  know  the  poising  of  the  dark  clouds, 
The  wonderful  works  of  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  ?" 


1 62  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

We  may  now  consider  the  words  in  which  this  great  im- 
provement in  the  condition  of  the  earth  is  recorded.  The 
Hebrew  term  for  the  atmosphere  is  Rakiah,  literally,  some- 
thing expanded  or  beaten  out — an  expanse.  It  is  rendered 
in  our  version  "  firmament,"  a  word  conveying  the  notion  of 
support  and  fixit}'-,  and  in  the  Septuagint  ^^  Stereoma"  a  word 
having  a  similar  meaning.  The  idea  conveyed  by  the  He- 
brew word  is  not,  however,  that  of  strength,  but  of  exte?it;  or 
as  Milton — the  most  accurate  of  expositors  of  these  words — 
has  it : 

"The  firmament,  expanse  of  liquid,  pure. 

Transparent,  elemental  air,  diffused 

In  circuit  to  the  uttermost  convex 

Of  this  great  round." 

That  this  was  really  the  way  in  which  this  word  was  under- 
stood by  the  Hebrews  appears  from  several  passages  of  the 
Bible.  Job  says  of  God,  "Who  2i\ox\Q  sp?'eadeth  out  the  heav- 
ens.'"* David,  in  the  104th  Psalm,  which  is  a  poetical  par- 
aphrase of  the  history  of  creation,  speaks  of  the  Creator  as 
^^  stretching  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain."  In  later  writers, 
as  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  similar  expressions  occur.  The 
notion  of  a  solid  or  arched  firmament  was  probably  altogether 
remote  from  the  minds  of  these  writers.  Such  beliefs  may 
have  prevailed  at  the  time  when  the  Septuagint  translation 
was  made,  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  no  trace 
of  them  can  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament.  In  proof  of 
this,  I  may  refer  to  some  of  the  passages  which  have  been 
cited   as   affording  the   strongest   instances   of  this  kind  of 

*  It  is  not  meant  that  the  word  rakiah  occurs  in  these  passages,  but  to 
show  how  by  other  words  the  idea  of  stretching  out  or  extension  rather 
than  solidity  is  implied.  The  verb  in  the  first  two  passages  is  nata,  to 
spread  out. 


TJie  Atmosphere.  163 

"accommodation."  In  Exodus  xxiv.,  10,  we  are  told,  "And 
they  saw  the  God  of  Israel,  and  under  his  feet  as  it  were  a 
paved  work  of  sapphire,  and  as  it  were  the  heaven  itself  in  its 
clearness."  This  is  evidently  a  comparison  of  the  pavement 
seen  under  the  feet  of  Jehovah  to  a  sapphire  in  its  color,  and 
to  the  heavens  in  its  transparency.  The  intention  of  the 
writer  is  not  to  give  information  respecting  the  heavens,  or  to 
liken  them  either  to  a  pavement  or  a  sapphire  ;  all  that  we 
can  infer  is  that  he  believed  the  heavens  to  be  clear  or  trans- 
parent. Job  mentions  the  "pillars  of  heaven,"  but  the  con- 
nection shows  that  this  is  merely  a  poetical  expression  for 
lofty  mountains.  The  earthquake  causes  these  pillars  of 
heaven  to  "  tremble."  We  are  informed  in  the  book  of  Job 
that  God  "ties  up  his  waters  in  his  thick  cloud,  and  the  cloud 
is  not  rent  under  them."  We  are  also  told  of  the  "treasures 
of  snow  and  the  treasures  of  hail,"  and  rain  is  called  the 
"bottles  of  heaven,"  and  is  said  to  be  poured  out  of  the 
"lattices  of  heaven."  I  recognize  in  all  these  mere  poetical 
figures,  not  intended  to  be  literally  understood.  Some  learn- 
ed writers  wish  us  to  believe  that  the  intention  of  the  Bible  in 
these  places  is  actually  to  teach  that  the  clouds  are  contained 
in  skin  bottles,  or  something  similar,  and  that  they  are  emp- 
tied through  hatches  in  a  solid  firmament.  To  found  such  a 
belief,  however,  on  a  few  figurative  statements,  seems  ridicu- 
lous, especially  when  we  consider  that  the  writers  of  the  Scrip- 
tures show  themselves  to  be  well  acquainted  with  nature,  and 
would  not  be  likely  on  any  account  to  deviate  so  far  from  the 
ordinary  testimony  of  the  senses;  more  especially  as  by  doing 
so  they  would  enable  every  unlettered  man  who  has  seen  a 
cloud  gather  on  a  mountain's  brow  or  dissolve  away  before 
increasing  heat  to  oppose  the  evidence  of  his  senses  to  their 
statements,  and  perhaps  to  reject  them  with  scorn  as  a  bare- 


164  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

faced  imposture.     But,  lastly,  we  are  triumphantly  directed  to 
the  question  of  Elihu  in  his  address  to  Job  : 

"  Hast  thou  with  him  stretched  out  the  sky, 
Which  is  firm  and  like  a  molten  mirror  ?" 

But  the  word  translated  sky  here  is  not  ^'' rakiah^^  or 
^^  shamayim,^^  but  another  signifying  the  clouds^  so  that  we 
should  regard  Elihu  as  speaking  of  the  apparent  firmness  or 
stability,  and  the  beautiful  reflected  tints  of  the  clouds.  His 
words  may  be  paraphrased  thus  :  "  Hast  thou  aided  Him  in 
spreading  out  those  clouds,  which  appear  so  stable  and  self- 
sustaining,  and  so  beautifully  reflect  the  sunlight?"*  The 
above  passages  form  the  only  authority  which  I  can  find  in 
the  Scriptures  for  the  doctrine  of  a  solid  firmament,  which 
may  therefore  be  characterized  as  a  modern  figment  of  men 
more  learned  in  books  but  less  acquainted  with  nature  than 
the  Scripture  writers.  As  a  contrast  to  all  such  doctrines  I 
may  quote  the  sublime  opening  of  the  poetical  account  of 
creation  in  Psalm  civ.,  which  we  may  also  take  here  as  else- 
where as  the  oldest  and  most  authoritative  commentary  on 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  : 

"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul  ! 
O  Lord,  my  God,  thou  art  very  great : 
Thou  art  clothed  with  honor  and  majesty, 
AVho  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  garment. 
Who  stretchest  out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain  (of  a  tent), 

Who  layest  the  beams  of  thy  chambers  in  the  "waters. 

Who  makest  the  clotids  thy  chariots, 

Who  %valkest  tipon  the  wings  of  the  wind.'''' 

The  waters  here  are  those  above  the  firmament,  the  whole 
*  See  also  Humboldt,  "  Cosmos,"  vol.  ii.,  pt.  i. 


The  Atmosphere.  165 

of  this  part  of  the  Psalm  being  occupied  with  the  heavens  ; 
and  there  is  no  place  left  for  the  solid  firmament,  of  which 
the  writer  evidently  knew  nothing.  He  represents  God  as 
laying  his  chambers  on  the  waters,  instead  of  on  the  sup- 
posed firmament,  and  as  careering  in  cloudy  chariots  on  the 
wings  of  the  wind,  instead  of  over  a  solid  arch.  For  all  the 
above  reasons,  we  conclude  that  the  "  expanse  "  of  the  verses 
under  consideration  W'as  understood  by  the  writers  of  the 
book  of  God  to  be  aerial,  not  solid ;  and  the  "  establishment 
of  the  clouds  above,"  as  it  is  finely  called  in  Proverbs,  is 
the  effect  of  those  meteorological  laws  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  and  which  were  now  for  the  first  time 
brought  into  operation  by  the  divine  Legislator.  The  He- 
brew theology  was  not  of  a  kind  to  require  such  expedi- 
ents as  that  of  solid  heavenly  arches  ;  it  recurred  at  once 
to  the  will — the  decree — of  Jehovah  ;  and  was  content  to 
believe  that  through  this  efficient  cause  the  "  rivers  run 
into  the  sea,  yet  the  sea  is  not  full,"  for  "  to  the  place 
whence  the  rivers  came,  thither  they  return  again,"  through 
the  agency  of  those  floating  clouds,  "  the  waters  above  the 
heavens,"  which  "  pour  down  rain  according  to  the  vapor 
thereof." 

God  called  the  expanse  "  Heaven."  In  former  chapters 
we  have  noticed  that  heaven  in  the  popular  speech  of  the 
Hebrews,  as  in  our  own,  had  different  meanings,  applying 
alike  to  the  cloudy,  the  astral,  and  the  spiritual  heavens. 
The  Creator  here  sanctions  its  application  to  the  aerial  ex- 
panse ;  and  accordingly  throughout  the  Scriptures  it  is  used 
in  this  way ;  rakiah  occurs  very  rarely,  as  if  it  had  become 
nearly  obsolete,  or  was  perhaps  regarded  as  a  merely  tech- 
nical or  descriptive  term.  The  divine  sanction  for  the  use 
of  the  term  heaven  for  the  atmosphere  is,  as  already  explain- 


1 66  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

ed,  to  indicate  that  this  popular  use  is  not  to  interfere  with 
its  application  to  the  whole  universe  beyond  our  earth  in 
verse  ist. 

The  poetical  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  especially  the  book 
of  Job,  which  is  probably  the  most  ancient  of  the  whole, 
abound  in  references  to  the  atmosphere  and  its  phenomena. 
I  may  quote  a  few  of  these  passages,  to  enable  us  to  under- 
stand the  views  of  these  subjects  given  in  the  Bible,  and  the 
meaning  attached  to  the  creation  of  the  atmosphere,  in  very 
ancient  periods.    In  Job,  38th  chapter,  we  have  the  following: 

"  In  what  way  is  the  lightning  distributed, 
And  how  is  the  east  wind  spread  abroad  over  the  earth  ? 
Who  hath  opened  a  channel  for  the  pouring  rain, 
Or  a  way  for  the  thunder-flash  ? 
To  cause  it  to  rain  on  the  land  where  no  man  is, 
In  the  desert  where  no  one  dwells ; 
To  saturate  the  desolate  and  waste  ground, 
And  to  cause  the  bud  of  the  tender  herb  to  spring  forth." 

Here  we  have  the  unequal  and  unforeseen  distribution  of 
thunder-storms,  be3'ond  the  knowledge  and  power  of  man, 
but  under  the  absolute  control  of  God,  and  designed  by  him 
for  beneficent  purposes.  Equally  fine  are  some  of  the  fol- 
lowins:  lines  : 


'fc. 


"  Dost  thou  lift  up  thy  voice  to  the  clouds, 
That  abundance  of  waters  may  cover  thee  ? 
Dost  thou  send  forth  the  lightnings,  and  they  go. 
And  say  unto  thee,  Here  are  we  ? 
Who  can  number  the  clouds  by  wisdom. 
Or  cause  the  bottles  of  heaven  to  empty  themselves  ? 
When  the  dust  groweth  into  mire. 
And  the  clods  cleave  fast  tosrether  ?" 


•'t>^ 


In  the  36th  and  37th  chapters  of  the  same  book  we  have 
a  grand  description  of  atmospheric  changes  in  their  relation 


The  Atmosphere,  167 

to  man  and  his  works.  The  speaker  is  EHhu,  who  in  this  an- 
cient book  most  favorably  represents  the  knowledge  of  nature 
that  existed  at  a  time  probably  anterior  to  the  age  of  Moses 
— a  knowledge  far  superior  to  that  which  we  find  in  the  works 
of  many  modern  poets  and  expositors,  and  accompanied  by 
an  intense  appreciation  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  natural 
objects  : 

"  For  he  draweth  up  the  drops  of  water, 
Rain  is  condensed  *  from  his  vapor, 
Which  the  clouds  do  drop, 
And  distill  upon  man  abundantly. 
Yea,  can  any  understand  the  distribution  of  the  clouds 
Or  the  thundering  of  his  tabernacle.t 
Behold  he  spreadeth  his  lightning  upon  it. 
He  covereth  it  as  with  the  depths  of  the  sea.| 
By  these  he  executes  judgment  on  the  people. 
By  these  also  he  giveth  food  in  abundance  ; 
His  hands  he  covers  with  the  lightning, 
And  commands  it  (against  the  enemy)  in  its  striking; 
He  uttereth  to  it  his  decree,§ 
Concerning  the  herd  as  well  as  proud  man. 
At  this  also  my  heart  trembles, 
And  bounds  out  of  its  place  ; 
Hear  attentively  the  thunder  of  his  voice,  ' 
And  the  loud  sound  that  goes  from  his  mouth. 
He  directs  it  under  the  whole  heavens. 
And  his  lightning  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
After  it  his  voice  roareth. 


*  Heb.,  "  they  refine." 

t  "  His  pavilion  round  about  him  was  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of 
the  skies,"  Psa.  xviii.     This  expression  explains  that  in  the  text. 

X  Or  "  He  darkens  the  depths  of  the  sea." 

§  Translation  of  these  lines  much  disputed  and  very  difficult.  Gesenius 
and  Conant  render  it,  **  His  thunder  tells  of  him ;  to  the  herds  even  of 
him  who  is  on  high." 


1 68  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

He  thundereth  with  the  voice  of  his  majesty  ; 

And  delays  not  (the  tempest)  when  his  voice  is  heard. 

God  thundereth  marvellously  with  his  voice, 

He  doeth  wonders  which  we  can  not  comprehend ; 

For  he  saith  to  the  snow,  Be  thou  on  the  earth. 

Also  to  the  pouring  rain,  even  the  great  rain  of  his  might. 

He  sealeth  up  the  hand  of  every  man, 

That  all  men  may  know  his  work. 

Then  the  beasts  go  to  their  dens, 

And  remain  in  their  caverns. 

Out  of  the  south  cometh  the  whirlwind 

And  cold  out  of  the  north, 

By  the  breath  of  God  the  frost  is  produced 

And  the  breadth  of  waters  becomes  bound ; 

With  moisture  he  loads  the  thick  cloud, 

He  spreads  the  cloud  of  his  lightning, 

And  it  is  turned  about  by  his  direction. 

To  execute  his  pleasure  on  the  face  of  the  world  ; 

Whether  for  correction,  for  his  land,  or  for  mercy. 

He  causeth  it  to  come. 

Hearken  unto  this,  O  Job, 

Stand  still  and  consider  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 

Dost  thou  know  when  God  disposes  these  things, 

And  the  lightning  of  his  cloud  flashes  forth  ? 

Dost  thou  know  the  poising  of  the  clouds. 

The  wonderful  work  of  the  Perfect  in  knowledge  .'* 

When  thy  garments  become  warm 

When  he  quieteth  the  earth  by  the  south  wind ; 

Hast  thou  with  him  spread  out  the  clouds 

Firm  and  like  a  molten  mirror  ?"* 


*  I  take  advantage  of  this  long  quotation  to  state  that  in  the  case  of 
this  and  other  passages  quoted  from  the  Old  Testament  I  have  carefully 
consulted  the  original ;  but  have  availed  myself  freely  of  the  renderings 
of  such  of  the  numerous  versions  and  commentaries  as  I  have  been  able 
to  obtain,  whenever  they  appeared  accurate  and  expressive,  and  have  not 
scrupled  occasionally  to  give  a  free  translation  where  this  seemed  neces- 
sary to  perspicuity.     In  the  book  of  Job,  I  have  consulted  principally  the 


The  Atmosphere.  i6g 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  find,  in  the  poetry  of  any  nation  or 
time,  a  description  of  so  many  natural  phenomena,  so  fine  in 
feeling  or  truthful  in  delineation.  It  should  go  far  to  dispel 
the  too  prevalent  ideas  of  early  Oriental  ignorance,  and 
should  lead  to  a  more  full  appreciation  of  these  noble  pictures 
of  nature,  unsurpassed  in  the  literature  of  any  people  or  time. 
I  trust  that  the  previous  illustrations  are  sufficient  to  show, 
not  only  that  the  sfe?'eoma,  or  solid  firmament  of  the  Septua- 
gint,  is  not  to  be  found  in  Scripture,  but  that  the  positive 
doctrine  of  the  Bible  on  the  subject  is  of  a  very  different 
character.  For  instance,  in  the  above  extract  from  the  book 
of  Job,  Elihu  speaks  of  the  poising  or  suspension  of  the  clouds 
as  inscrutable,  and  tells  us  that  God  draws  up  water  into  the 
clouds,  and  pours  down  rain  according  to  the  vapor  thereof; 
he  also  speaks  of  the  clouds  as  being  scattered  before  the 
brightness  of  the  sun  ;  and  notices,  in  truthful  as  well  as  ex- 
alted language,  the  nature  and  succession  of  the  lightning's 
flash,  the  thunder,  and  the  precipitation  of  rain  that  follows. 
Solomon  also  informs  us  that  the  "  establishment  of  the 
clouds  above  "  is  due  to  the  law  or  will  of  Jehovah.  Finally, 
in  this  connection,  the  divine  sanction  given  to  the  use  of  the 
term  heaven  for  the  atmosphere  may  in  itself  be  regarded  as 
an  intimation  that  no  definite  barrier  separates  our  film  of 
atmosphere  from  the  boundless  abyss  of  heaven  without. 

Of  this  period  natural  science  gives  us  no  intimation.  In 
the  earliest  geological  epochs  organic  life,  dry  land,  and  an 
atmosphere  already  existed.  At  the  period  now  under  con- 
sideration the  two  former  had  not  been  called  into  existence, 
and  the  latter  was  in  process  of  elaboration  from  the  materi- 


translation  appended  to  Barnes's  Commentary,  Conant's  translation,  1857, 
and  those  of  Tayler  Lewis  and  Evans  in  Schaff's  edition  of  Lange,  1874. 

H 


I/O  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

als  of  the  primeval  deep.  If  the  formation  of  the  atmosphere 
in  its  existing  conditions  was,  as  already  hinted,  a  result  of 
the  gradual  cooling  of  the  earth,  then  this  period  must  have 
been  of  great  length,  and  the  action  of  the  heated  waters  on 
the  crust  of  the  globe  may  have  produced  thick  layers  of 
detrital  matter  destined  to  form  the  first  soils  of  the  succeed- 
ing jEon.  We  know  nothing,  however,  of  these  primitive 
strata,  and  most  of  them  must  have  been  removed  by  denud- 
ing agencies  in  succeeding  periods,  or  restored  by  subterra- 
nean heat  to  the  ciystalline  state.  The  events  and  results  of 
this  day  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : 

"At  the  commencement  of  the  period  the  earth  was  envel- 
oped by  a  misty  or  vaporous  mantle.  In  its  progress  those 
relations  of  air  and  vapor  which  cause  the  separation  of  the 
clouds  from  the  earth  by  a  layer  of  clear  air,  and  the  varied 
alternations  of  sunshine  and  rain,  were  established.  At  the 
close  of  the  period  the  newly  formed  atmosphere  covered  a 
universal  ocean  ;  and  there  was  probably  a  very  regular  and 
uniform  condition  of  the  atmospheric  currents,  and  of  the 
processes  of  evaporation  and  condensation." 

But  while  we  must  affirm  that  no  idea  of  a  solid  atmos- 
pheric vault  can  be  detected  in  the  Bible,  and  while  we  may 
also  affirm  that  such  an  idea  would  have  been  altogether  for- 
eign to  its  tone,  which  invariably  refers  all  things  not  to  sec- 
ondary machinery,  but  to  the  will  and  fiat  of  the  Supreme,  we 
must  not  forget  that  a  most  important  moral  purpose  was  to 
be  served  by  the  assertion  of  the  establishment  of  the  atmos- 
pheric expanse.  Among  all  nations  the  phenomena  of  the 
atmosphere  have  had  important  theological  and  mythological 
relations.  The  ever-changing  and  apparently  capricious  as- 
pects of  the  atmosphere  and  its  clouds,  the  terrible  effects  of 
storms,  and  the  balmy  influence  of  sunshine  and  calm,  deeply 


The  Atmosphere,  i^i 

impress  the  minds  of  simple  and  superstitious  men,  and  this 
all  the  more  that  in  their  daily  life  and  expeditions  they  are 
constantly  subjected  to  the  effects  of  atmospheric  vicissitudes. 
Hence  the  greatest  gods  of  all  the  ancient  nations  are  weath- 
er-gods— rulers  of  the  atmospheric  heavens — displaying  their 
anger  in  the  thunder-storm  and  tornado.  It  is  likely  that  in 
most  cases,  as  in  many  barbarous  tribes  of  modern  times, 
these  weather-gods  were  malevolent  beings  contending  against 
the  genial  influences  of  the  heavenly  Sun-god  ;  but  in  nearly 
every  case  their  supposed  practical  importance  has  elevated 
them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Olympian  Zeus,  the  Scandinavian 
Thor,  and  the  American  Hurakon,  to  the  place  of  supreme 
divinity.  This  was  one  of  the  superstitions  which  the  He- 
brew monotheism  had  to  overcome.  Hence  the  atmosphere 
is  afBrmed  to  be  under  Jehovah's  law,  and  all  its  phenomena 
are  attributed  to  his  power.  The  value  of  this  as  cutting  at 
the  root  of  the  most  widespread  superstitions  it  is  easy  to 
understand,  and  it  has  a  farther  value  in  teaching  that  even 
the  apparently  unstable  and  capricious  air  is  a  thing  estab- 
lished from  the  first  and  amenable  to  the  ordinance  of  God. 
How  difficult  it  has  been  to  eradicate  superstitious  views  of 
the  atmosphere  may  be  learned  from  the  fact  that  St.  Paul,  in 
writing  to  the  enlightened  citizens  of  Ephesus,  could  speak 
of  the  power  which  the  heathen  worshipped  as  the  "  Prince 
of  the  powers  of  the  air,"  and  it  is  also  evidenced  by  the 
abundant  notions  of  this  kind  which  have  survived  from  the 
Middle  Ages  among  the  more  ignorant  part  of  the  people 
even  in  lands  called  Christian. 

While,  however,  the  Bible  affirms  the  atmosphere  to  be  sub- 
ject to  law,  it  does  not  carry  this  into  the  domain  of  physical 
necessity,  and  affirm  with  some  modern  materialistic  philoso- 
phers that  it  is  useless  to  pray  for- rain.     It  is  God  who  gives 


1/2  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  and  what  he  gives 
he  can  withhold.  Perhaps  no  part  of  our  subject  can  bet- 
ter than  this  illustrate  the  rational  distinction  between  a 
mere  physical  fatalism,  or  a  mere  superstitious  fear  of  capri- 
cious nature,  and  that  belief  in  a  divine  Lawgiver  which  lies 
between  these  extremes.  Modern  science  may  smile  at  the 
poor  Indian,  who  in  his  fear  invokes  Hurakon  or  Tlaloc  or 
the  terrible  Thunder-bird,  and  may  even  despise  that  nobler 
worship  of  the  great  Phoenician  Sun-god,  the  source  and  fount- 
ain of  all  light  and  life  ;  against  which,  though  it  was  the 
grandest  of  all  the  old  idolatries,  Elijah  waged  war  to  the 
death.  But  may  it  not  equally  deride  the  faith  of  Elijah 
himself,  when,  after  three  years  of  drought,  he  prayed  in  the 
sight  of  assembled  Israel  for  rain  ?  It  may  do  so  if  physical 
law  amounts  to  an  invariable  necessity,  and  if  there  is  no 
supreme  Will  behind  it.  But  if  natural  laws  are  the  expres- 
sion of  the  divine  will,  if  these  laws  are  multiform  and  com- 
plicated in  their  relations,  and  regulate  vastly  varied  causes 
interacting  with  each  other,  and  if  the  action  and  welfare  of 
man  come  within  the  scope -of  these  laws,  then  there  is  noth- 
ing irrational  in  the  supposition  that  God,  without  any  capri- 
cious or  miraculous  intervention,  may  have  so  correlated  the 
myriad  adjustments  of  his  creation  as  that,  while  it  is  his  usual 
rule  that  rain  falls  alike  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  he  may 
make  its  descent  at  particular  times  and  places  to  depend  on 
the  needs  and  requests  of  his  own  children.  In  truth  the 
belief  in  law  is  essential  to  the  philosojDhical  conception  of 
prayer.  If  the  universe  wer  a  mere  chaos  of  chances,  or 
if  it  were  a  result  of  absolute  necessity,  there  would  be  no 
place  for  intelligent  prayer;  but  if  it  is  under  the  control  of 
a  Lawgiver,  wise  and  merciful,  not  a  mere  manager  of  mate- 
rial machinery,  but  a  true  Father  of  all,  then  we  can  go  to 


The  Atmosphere,  173 

such  a  being  with  our  requests,  not  in  the  belief  that  we  can 
change  his  great  plans,  or  that  any  advantage  could  result 
from  this  if  it  were  possible,  but  that  these  plans  may  be 
made  in  his  boundless  wisdom  and  love  to  meet  our  necessi- 
ties. There  is  also  in  the  Bible  the  farther  promise  that,  if 
we  are  truly  the  children  of  God,  regulating  our  conduct  by 
his  will  and  enlightened  by  his  spirit,  we  shall  know  how  to 
pray  for  what  is  in  accordance  with  his  divine  purpose,  and 
how  to  receive  with  gladness  whatever  he  sees  fit  to  give. 
While,  therefore,  the  Biblical  doctrine  as  to  natural  law  eman- 
cipates us  from  fears  of  angry  storm-demons,  it  draws  us  near 
to  a  heavenly  Father,  whose  power  is  above  all  the  tempests 
of  earth,  and  who,  while  ruling  by  law,  has  regulated  all  things 
in  conformity  with  the  higher  law  of  love.  When  God  had 
made  the  atmosphere,  he  saw  that  it  was  good,  and  the  high- 
est significance  is  given  to  this  by  the  consideration  that  God 
is  love.  The  position  of  the  Bible  is  thus  the  true  mean  be- 
tween superstitions  at  once  unhappy  and  debasing,  and  a  ma- 
terialistic infidelity  that  w^ould  reduce  the  universe  to  a  dead, 
remorseless  machine,  in  which  we  must  struggle  for  a  precari- 
ous existence  till  wc  are  crushed  between  its  wheels. 


0' 


174  ^^^(^  Origin  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  DRY  LAND  AND  THE  FIRST  PLANTS. 

"And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  under  the  heavens  be  gathered  into  one 
place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear :  and  it  was  so.  And  God  called  the  dry 
land  earth,  and  the  gathering  of  waters  called  he  seas ;  and  God  saw  that 
it  was  good. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  springing  herb,  the  herb 
bearing  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit,  after  its  kind,  whose  seed  is 
in  it  on  the  earth :  and  it  was  so.  And  the  earth  brought  forth  the  tender 
herb,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  tree  bearing  fruit  whose  seed  is  in  it, 
after  its  kind ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good." — Genesis  i.,  lo,  ii. 

These  are  events  sufficiently  simple  and  intelligible  in 
their  general  character.  Geology  shows  us  that  the  emer- 
gence of  the  dry  land  must  have  resulted  from  the  elevation 
of  parts  of  the  bed  of  the  ancient  universal  ocean,  and  that 
the  agent  employed  in  such  changes  is  the  bending  and 
crumpling  of  the  outer  crust  of  the  earth,  caused  by  lateral 
pressure,  and  operating  either  in  a  slow  and  regular  man- 
ner or  by  sudden  paroxysms.  It  farther  informs  us  that  the 
existing  continents  consist  of  stratified  or  bedded  masses, 
more  or  less  inclined,  fissured  and  irregularly  elevated,  and 
usually  supported  by  crystalline  rocks  which  have  been  pro- 
duced among  them,  or  forced  up  beneath  or  through  them  by 
internal  agencies,  and  which  truly  constitute  the  pillars  and 
foundations  of  the  earth.  These  elevations,  it  is  true,  were 
successive,  and  belong  to  different  periods;  but  the  appear- 
ance of  the  first  dry  land  is  that  intended  here. 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  175 

The  elevation  of  the  dry  land  is  more  frequently  referred 
to  in  Scripture  than  any  other  cosmological  fact ;  and  while 
all  have  been  misapprehended,  the  statements  on  this  subject 
have  been  even  more  unjustly  dealt  with  than  others.  In  the 
text, the  word  "earth"  (aretz*)  is,  by  divine  sanction,  narrowed 
in  meaning  to  the  dry  land ;  but  while  some  expositors  are 
quite  willing  to  restrict  it  to  this,  or  even  a  more  limited 
sense,  in  the  first  and  second  verses  of  this  chapter,  almost 
the  only  verses  in  the  Bible  w'here  the  terms  of  the  narrative 
make  such  a  restriction  inadmissible,  they  are  equally  ready 
to  understand  it  as  meaning  the  whole  globe  in  places  where 
the  explanatory  clause  in  the  verse  now  under  consideration 
teaches  us  that  we  should  understand  the  land  only,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  sea.  I  may  quote  some  of  these  pas- 
sages, and  note  the  views  they  give ;  always  bearing  in  mind 
that,  after  the  intimation  here  given,  we  must  understand  the 
term  "earth"  as  applying  only  to  the  contijicnts  or  dry  land, 
unless  where  the  context  otherwise  fixes  the  meaning.  We 
may  first  turn  to  Psalm  civ^  : 

•*  Thou  laidst  the  foundations  of  the  earth, 
That  it  should  never  be  removed ; 
Thou  coveredst  it  with  the  deep  as  with  a  garment; 
The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains ; 
At  thy  rebuke  they  fled  ; 

At  the  sound  of  thy  thunder  they  hasted  away; 
Mountains  ascended,  valleys  descended 
To  the  place  thou  hast  appointed  for  them  : 
Thou  hast  appointed  them  bounds  that  they  may  not  pass, 
That  they  return  not  again  to  cover  the  earth." 


*  The  word  is  one  of  those  that  pervade  both  Semitic  and  Indo- 
European  tongues:  Sanscrit, rt'/^^r^;  Pehlevi,  fl'r/iz;  "LdLtiu,  terra ;  German, 
Enfe;  Gothic,  an'/Aa ;  Scottish, yircf ;  English,  (?«;-///.— Gesenius. 


17^  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

,  The  position  of  these  verses  in  this  "the  hymn  of  creation" 
leaves  no  doubt  that  they  refer  to  the  events  we  are  now  con- 
sidering. I  have  given  above  the  literal  reading  of  the  line 
that  refers  to  the  elevation  of  mountains  and  subsidence  of 
valleys ;  admitting,  however,  that  the  grammatical  construc- 
tion gives  an  air  of  probability  to  the  rendering  in  our  version, 
"  they  go  up  by  the  mountains,  they  go  down  by  the  valleys;" 
which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  rendered  very  improbable  by  the 
sense.  In  whichever  sense  we  understand  this  line,  the  pict- 
ure presented  to  us  by  the  Psalmist  includes  the  elevation  of 
the  mountains  and  continents,  the  subsidence  of  the  waters 
into  their  depressed  basins,  and  the  firm  establishment  of  the 
dry  land  on  its  rocky  foundations,  the  whole  accompanied  by 
a  feature  not  noticed  in  Genesis — the  voice  of  God's  thunder 
— or,  in  other  words,  electrical  and  volcanic  explosions.  The 
following  quotations  refer  to  the  same  subject : 

"Before  the  mountains  were  settled, 
Before  the  hills  was  I  (the  Wisdom  of  God)  brought  forth ; 
While  as  yet  he  had  not  made  the  earth, 
Nor  the  plains,  nor  the  higher  parts  of  the  habitable  world. 
When  he  gave  the  sea  his  decree 
That  the  waters  should  not  pass  his  limits, 
When  he  determined  the  foundations  of  the  earth." 

— Proverbs  viii.,  25. 

"Thou  hast  established  the  earth,  and  it  endureth, 

According  to  thy  decrees  they  continue  this  day. 

For  all  are  thy  servants." 

— Psalm  cxix.,  90. 

"  Who  shaketh  the  earth  out  of  its  place, 

And  its  pillars  tremble." 

— Job  ix.,  6. 

*■'  Where  wast  thou  when  I  founded  the  earth  "i 
Declare,  if  thou  hast  knowledge. 


TJie  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  ly'j 

Who  hath  fixed  the  proportion  thereof,  if  thou  knowest? 

Who  stretched  the  line  upon  it? 

Upon  what  are  its  foundations  settled? 

Or  who  laid  its  corner-stone, 

When  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 

And  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy? 

Who  shut  up  the  sea  with  doors 

In  its  bursting  forth  as  from  the  womb? 

When  I  made  the  cloud  its  garment, 

And  swathed  it  in  thick  darkness, 

I  measured  out  for  it  my  limit. 

And  fixed  its  bars  and  doors ; 

And  said.  Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  farther, 

And  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed." 

— Job  xxxviii.,  4. 

In  these  passages  the  foundation  of  the  earth  at  first,  as 
well  as  the  shaking  of  its  pillars  by  the  earthquake,  are  con- 
nected with  what  we  usually  call  natural  law — the  decree  of 
the  Almighty — the  unchanging  arrangements  of  an  unchange- 
able Creator,  whose  "hands  formed  the  dry  land,"*  This  is 
the  ultimate  cause  not  only  of  the  elevation  of  the  land,  but 
of  all  other  natural  things  and  processes.  The  naturalist  does 
not  require  to  be  informed  that  the  details,  in  so  far  as  they 
are  referred  to  in  the  above  passages,  are  perfectly  in  accord- 
ance with  what  we  know  of  the  nature  and  support  of  con- 
tinental masses.  Geolo2:ical  observation  and  mathematical 
calculation  have  in  our  day  combined  their  powers  to  give 
clear  views  of  the  manner  in  which  the  fractured  strata  of  the 
earth  are  wedged  and  arched  together,  and  supported  by  in- 
ternal igneous  masses  upheaved  from  beneath,  and  subse- 
quently cooled  and  hardened.  A  general  view  of  these  facts 
which  we  have  learned  from  scientific  inquiry,  the  Hebrews 


*  Psalm  xcv. 
H  2 


178  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

gleaned  with  nearly  as  much  precision  from  the  short  account 
of  the  elevation  of  the  land  in  Genesis,  and  from  the  later 
comments  of  their  inspired  poets.  From  the  same  source 
our  own  great  poet,  Milton,  learned  these  cosmical  facts,  be- 
fore the  rise  of  geology,  and  expressed  them  in  unexception- 
able terms : 

*'  The  mountains  huge  appear 

Emergent,  and  their  broad  bare  backs  upheave 
Into  the  clouds,  their  tops  ascend  the  sky. 
So  high  as  heaved  the  tumid  hills,  so  low 
Down  sunk  a  hollow  bottom,  broad  and  deep. 
Capacious  bed  of  waters," 

In  further  illustration  of  the  opinions  of  the  Scripture 
writers  respecting  the  nature  of  the  earth,  and  the  disturb-, 
ances  to  wdiich  it  is  liable,  I  quote  the  following  passages. 
The  first  is  from  the  magnificent  description  of  Jehovah 
descending  to  succor  his  people  amid  the  terrors  of  the  earth- 
quake, the  volcano,  and  the  thunder-storm,  in  Psalm  xviii. : 

**  Then  shook   and  trembled  the   earth, 
The  foundations  of  the  hills  moved  and  were  shaken, 
Because  he  was  angry. 
Smoke  went  up  from  his  nostrils, 
Fire  from  his  mouth  devoured, 
Coals  were   kindled  by  it. 
Then  were  seen  the  channels  of  the  waters, 
And  the  foundations  of  the  world  were  discovered, 
A  tthy  rebuke — O  Jehovah — 
At  the  blast  of  the  breath  of  thy  nostrils." 

In  another  place  in  the  Psalms  we  find  volcanic  action 
thus  tersely  sketched  : 

*'  He  lookcth  on  the  earth  and  it  trembleth. 
He  toucheth  the  hills  and  they  smoke." 

— Psalm  civ.,  32. 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  lyg 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  discourse  on  this  subject  in 
the  whole  Bible  is  that  in  Job  xxviii.,  in  which  mining  opera- 
tions are  introduced  as  an  illustration  of  the  difficulty  of  ob- 
taining true  wisdom.  This  passage  is  interesting  both  from 
its  extreme  antiquit}',  and  the  advancement  in  knowledge  and 
practical  skill  which  it  indicates.  It  presents,  however,  many 
difficulties ;  and  its  details  have  almost  entirely  lost  their 
true  significance  in  our  common  English  version  : 

"  Surely  there  is  a  vein  for  silver, 
And  a  place  for  the  gold  which  men  refme ; 
Iron  is  taken  from  the  earth, 
And  copper  is  molten  from  the  ore. 

To  the  end  of  darkness  and  to  all  extremes  man  searcheth, 
For  the  stones  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death. 
He  opens  a  passage  [shaft]  from  where  men  dwell, 
Unsupported  by  the  foot,  they  hang  down  and  swing  to  and  fro.* 
The  earth — out  of  it  cometh  bread ; 
And  beneath,  it  is  overturned  as  by  fire.t 
Its  stones  are  the  place  of  sapphires. 
And  it  hath  lumps  |  of  gold. 

The  path  (thereto)  the  bird  of  prey  hath  not  known. 
The  vulture's   eye  hath  not  seen  it.§ 
The  wild  beasts'  whelps  have  not  trodden  it, 
The  lion  hath  not  passed  over  it. 
Man  layeth  his  hand  on  the  hard  rock. 
He  turneth  up  the  mountains  from  their  roots. 
He  cutteth  channels  [cidifs}  in  the  rocks, 
His  eye  seeth  every  precious  thing. 


*  Gesenius. 

t  Perhaps  "changed,"  metamorphosed,  as  by  fire.  Conant  has  "de- 
stroyed." 

t  "  Dust  "  in  our  version,  literally  lumps  or  "  nuggets." 

§  The  vulgar  and  incorrect  idea  that  the  vulture  "  scents  the  carrion 
from  afar,"  so  often  reproduced  by  later  poets,  has  no  place  in  the  Bible 
poetry.     It  is  the  bird's  keen  eye  that  enables  him  to  find  his  prey. 


i8o  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

He  restraineth  the  streams  from   trickling, 
And  bringeth  the  hidden  thing  to  light. 
But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found, 
And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding?" 

This  passage,  incidentally  introduced,  gives  us  a  glimpse 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  interior  of  the  earth  and  its  products, 
as  it  existed  in  an  age  probably  anterior  to  that  of  Moses. 
It  brings  before  us  the  repositories  of  the  valuable  metals 
and  gems — the  mining  operations,  apparently  of  some  mag- 
nitude and  difficulty,  undertaken  in  extracting  them — and 
the  wonderful  structure  of  the  earth  itself,  green  and  product- 
ive at  the  surface,  rich  in  precious  metals  beneath,  and  deep- 
er still  the  abode  of  intense  subterranean  fires.  The  only 
thing  wanting  to  give  completeness  to  the  picture  is  some 
mention  of  the  fossil  remains  buried  in  the  earth ;  and,  as 
the  main  thought  is  the  eager  and  successful  search  for  use- 
ful minerals,  this  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  defect.  The 
application  of  all  this  is  finer  than  almost  any  thing  else  in 
didactic  poetry.  Man  can  explore  depths  of  the  earth  in- 
accessible to  all  other  creatures,  and  extract  thence  treas- 
ures of  inestimable  value ;  yet,  after  thus  exhausting  all  the 
natural  riches  of  the  earth,  he  too  often  lacks  that  highest 
wisdom  which  alone  can  fit  him  for  the  true  ends  of 
his  spiritual  being.  How  true  is  all  this,  even  in  our  own 
wonder-working  days!  A  poet  of  to-day  could  scarcely 
say  more  of  subterranean  wonders,  or  say  it  more  truth- 
fully and  beautifully ;  nor  could  he  arrive  at  a  conclusion 
more  pregnant  with  the  highest  philosophy  than  the  closing 
words  : 

'*  The  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom  ; 
And  to  depart  from  evil  is  understanding." 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  i8i 

The  emergence  of  the  dry  land  is  followed  by  a  repetition 
of  the  approval  of  the  Creator.  *•'  God  saw  that  it  was  good." 
To  our  view  that  primeval  dry  land  would  scarcely  have 
seemed  good.  It  was  a  world  of  bare,  rocky  peaks,  and 
verdureless  valleys — here  active  volcanoes,  with  their  heaps 
of  scoriae  and  scarcely  cooled  lava  currents — there  vast  mud- 
flats, recently  upheaved  from  the  bottom  of  the  waters — no- 
where even  a  blade  of  grass  or  a  clinging  lichen.  Yet  it  was 
good  in  the  view  of  its  Maker,  who  could  see  it  in  relation  to 
the  uses  for  which  he  had  made  it,  and  as  a  fit  preparatory 
step  to  the  new  wonders  he  was  soon  to  introduce.  Then 
too,  as  we  are  informed  in  Job  xxxviii.,  "  The  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy."  We 
also,  when  we  think  of  the  beautiful  variety  of  the  terrestrial 
surface,  the  character  and  composition  of  its  soils,  the  variety 
of  climate  and  exposure  resulting  from  its  degrees  of  eleva- 
tion, the  arrangements  for  the  continuance  of  springs  and 
streams,  and  many  other  beneficial  provisions  connected  with 
the  merely  mechanical  arrangements  of  the  dry  land,  may 
well  join  in  the  tribute  of  praise  to  the  All-wise  Creator. 
There  is,  however,  a  farther  thought  suggested  by  the  approv- 
al of  the  great  Artificer.  In  this  wondrous  progress  of  crea- 
tion, it  seems  as  if  every  thing  at  first  was  in  its  best  estate. 
No  succeeding  state  could  parallel  the  unbroken  symmetry 
of  the  earth  in  the  fluid  and  vaporous  condition  of  the 
"deep."  Before  the  elevation  of  the  land,  the  atmospheric 
currents  and  the  deposition  of  moisture  must  have  been  sur- 
passingly regular.  The  first  dry  land  may  have  presented 
crags  and  peaks  and  ravines  and  volcanic  cones  in  a  more 
marvellous  and  perfect  manner  than  any  succeeding  conti- 
nents— even  as  the  dry  and  barren  moon  now,  in  this  re- 
spect, far  surpasses  the  earth.     In  the  progress  of  organic 


1 82  TJic  Origin  of  the  World, 

life,  geology  gives  similar  indications,  in  the  variety  and  mag- 
nitude of  many  animal  types  on  their  first  introduction;  so 
that  this  may  very  possibly  be  a  law  of  creation. 

During  the  emergence  of  the  first  dry  land,  large  quantities 
of  detrital  matter  must  have  been  deposited  in  the  waters, 
and  in  part  elevated  into  land.  All  of  these  beds  would, 
probably,  be  destitute  of  organic  remains  ;  but  if  such  beds 
were  formed  and  still  remain,  they  are  probably  unknown  to 
us,  for  the  oldest  formations  that  we  know — those  of  the  Eo- 
zoic  age — contain  traces  of  such  remains.  It  has,  indeed, 
been  suggested  that  these  most  ancient  organisms  are,  as  it 
were,  overlooked  in  the  history  of  creation,  or  regarded  as 
equivalent  to  those  shapeless  monsters  and  animals  of  the 
darkness  that  are  referred  to  in  the  older  Turanian  versions 
of  this  story  of  creation.  I  doubt  very  much,  however,  if  this 
is  a  fair  interpretation  of  our  ancient  record  ;  but  we  shall  be 
in  a  better  position  to  discuss  it  when  we  come  to  the  actual 
introduction  of  animals. 

Modern  analogy  would  induce  us  to  believe  that  the  land 
was  not  elevated  suddenly;  but  either  by  a  series  of  small 
paroxysms,  as  in  the  case  of  Chili,  or  by  a  gradual  and  im- 
perceptible movement,  as  in  the  case  of  Sweden — two  of  the 
most  remarkable  modern  instances  of  elevation  of  land — ac- 
companied, however,  in  the  case  of  the  last  by  local  subsid- 
ence.^ In  either  of  these  ways  the  seas  and  rivers  would 
have  time  to  smooth  the  more  rugged  inequalities,  to  widen 
the  ravines  into  valleys,  and  to  spread  out  sediment  in  the 
lower  grounds  ;  thus  fitting  the  surface  for  the  habitation  of 
plants  and  animals.  We  must  not  suppose,  however,  that  the 
dry  land  had  any  close  resemblance  to  that  now  existing  in 


*  Lyell's  *'  Principles  of  Geology." 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  183 

its  form  or  distribution.  Geology  amply  proves  that  since 
the  first  appearance  of  dry  land,  its  contour  has  frequently 
been  changed,  and  probably  also  its  position.  Hence  near- 
ly all  our  present  land  consists  of  rocks  which  have  been 
formed  under  the  waters,  long  after  the  period  now  under 
consideration,  and  have  been  subsequently  hardened  and 
elevated  ;  and  since  all  the  existing  high  mountain  ranges 
are  of  a  comparatively  late  age,  it  is  probable  that  this  prime- 
val dry  land  was  low,  as  well  as,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  pe- 
riod at  least,  of  comparatively  small  extent.  It  is,  however, 
by  no  means  certain  that  there  may  not  have  been  a  greater 
expanse  of  land  toward  the  close  of  this  period  than  that 
which  afterwards  existed  in  those  older  periods  of  animal  life 
to  which  the  earliest  fossiliferous  rocks  of  the  geologist  carry 
us  back;  since,  as  already  hinted,  it  seems  to  be  a  rule  in 
creation  that  each  new  object  shall  be  highly  developed  of 
its  kind  at  its  first  appearance,  and  since  there  have  been  in 
geological  time  many  great  subsidences  as  well  as  elevations. 
Neither  must  we  forget  that  the  oldest  land  has  been  sub- 
jected throughout  geological  time  to  wearing  and  degrading- 
agencies,  and  that  from  its  waste  the  later  formations  have 
been  mainly  derived. 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  omit  to  state  that,  though 
we  may  know  at  present  no  remains  of  the  first  dry  land,  we 
are  not  ignorant  of  its  general  distribution;  for  the  present 
continents  show,  in  the  arrangement  of  their  formations  and 
mountain  chains,  evidence  that  they  are  parts  of  a  plan 
sketched  out  from  the  beginning.  It  has  often  been  re- 
marked by  physical  geographers  that  the  great  lines  of  coast 
and  mountain  ranges  are  generally  in  directions  approaching 
to  northeast  and  southwest,  or  northwest  and  southeast,  and 
that  where  they  run  in  other  directions,  as  in  the  case  of  the 


1 84  TJic  Origin  of  the  World. 

south  of  Europe  and  Asia,  they  are  much  broken  by  salient 
and  re-entering  angles,  formed  by  lines  having  these  direc- 
tions. Professor  R.  Owen,  of  Tennessee,  and  Professor  Pierce, 
of  Harvard  College,  were,  I  believe,  the  first  to  point  out  that 
these  lines  are  in  reality  parts  of  great  circles  tangent  to  the 
polar  circles,  and  the  latter  to  suggest  a  theory  of  their  ori- 
gin, based  on  the  action  of  solar  heat  and  the  seasons  on  a 
cooling  earth.  This  has  been  more  fully  stated  by  Mr.  W. 
Lowthian  Green  in  his  curious  book,  "  Vestiges  of  the  Molten 
Globe."  *  It  would  appear  that  the  great  circles  in  question  are 
in  reality  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  direction  of  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  sun  and  moon  at  the  period  of  either  solstice,  and 
when  they  happen  to  be  in  conjunction  or  opposition  at  these 
periods;  and  that  such  circles  would  be  the  lines  on  which 
the  thin  crust  of  a  cooling  globe  would  be  most  likely  to  be 
ruptured  by  its  internal  tidal-wave.  Whatever  the  cause  of 
the  phenomenon,  it  is  evident  that  in  the  formation  of  its 
surface  inequalities  the  earth  has  cracked — so  to  speak — 
along  two  series  of  great  circles  tangent  to  the  polar  circles; 
and  that  these,  with  certain  subordinate  lines  of  fracture  run- 
ning north  and  south  and  east  and  west,  have  determined  the 
forms  of  the  continents  from  their  origin. 

M.  Elie  de  Beaumont,  and  after  him  most  other  geologists, 
have  attributed  the  elevation  of  the  continents  and  the  up- 
heaval and  plication  of  mountain  chains  to  the  secular  re- 
frigeration of  the  earth,  causing  its  outer  shell  to  become  too 
capacious  for  its  contracting  interior  mass,  and  thus  to  break 
or  bend,  and  to  settle  toward  the  centre.  This  view  would 
well  accord  with  the  terms  in  which  the  elevation  of  the  land 
is  mentioned  throughout  the  Bible,  and  especially  with  the 

*  Stanford,  London,  1875.  - 


TJic  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  185 

general  progress  of  the  work  as  we  have  gleaned  it  from  the 
Mosaic  narrative;  since  from  the  period  of  the  desolate  void 
and  aeriform  deep  to  that  now  before  us  secular  refrigeration 
must  have  been  steadily  in  progress.  Let  us  also  observe 
here  that  the  earliest  fractures  of  the  crust  would  determine 
the  first  coast  lines,  and  the  first  slopes  along  which  sedi- 
mentary matter  would  descend  from  the  land  and  be  depos- 
ited in  the  sea.  They  would  also  modify  the  direction  of 
the  ocean  currents.  Thus  the  deposition  of  new  formations 
would  be  directed  by  these  old  lines,  as  would  also  to  some 
extent  the  course  of  all  subsequent  fractures  and  plications. 
Thus  it  happens  that  the  lines  of  outcrop  of  the  oldest  rocks 
first  raised  out  of  the  waters  already  marked  out  the  forms 
of  the  continents,  and  that  the  later  formations  appear  rather 
as  fillings-up  and  extensions  of  the  skeleton  established  by 
the  first  dry  land.  Farther,  the  lines  of  plication  first  estab- 
lished along  the  borders  of  the  continents  formed  resisting 
walls  along  which,  in  the  continued  contraction  of  the  earth, 
pressure  was  exerted  from  the  ocean  bed,  widening  and  ele- 
vating these  lines  of  upheaval,  and  still  farther  fixing  the 
general  forms  of  the  continents,  and  giving  variety  to  their 
surfaces.  In  the  progress  of  geological  time  there  have  also 
been  successive  depressions  and  re-elevations  of  the  conti- 
nental plateaus,  subjecting  them  alternately  to  the  wearing 
and  disintegrating  action  of  the  atmosphere  and  its  waters, 
and  to  the  influence  of  waves  and  ocean  currents,  and  es- 
pecially to  that  of  the  deep-seated  polar  currents  which  have 
throughout  geological  ages  been  loading  the  submerged 
areas  of  the  earth's  surface  with  the  products  of  the  waste 
caused  by  frost  and  ice  in  the  polar  regions.  These  causes 
again  have  been  progressively  increasing  the  oblateness  of  the 
earth's  figure,'  and,  along  with  the  slackening  of  its  rotation, 


1 86  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

preparing  the  way  for  those  periodical  collapses  in  the  equa- 
torial and  temperate  regions  which  form  the  boundaries  of 
some  of  our  most  important  geological  periods.*  Through- 
out all  these  changes  the  great  general  plan  of  the  conti- 
nents, first  sketched  out  when  the  "  foundations  of  the  earth  " 
were  laid,  before  Eozoic  time,  was  being  elaborated. 

The  same  creative  period  that  witnessed  the  first  appear- 
ance of  dry  land  saw  it  also  clothed  with  vegetation;  and  it 
is  quite  likely  that  this  is  intended  to  teach  that  no  time  was 
lost  in  clothing  the  earth  with  plants — that  the  first  emerg- 
ing portions  received  their  vegetable  tenants  as  they  became 
fitted  for  them — and  that  each  additional  region,  as  it  rose 
above  the  surface  of  the  waters,  in  like  manner  received  the 
species  of  plants  for  which  it  was  adapted.  What  was  the 
nature  of  this  earliest  vegetation  ?  The  sacred  writer  speci- 
fies three  descriptions  of  plants  as  included  in  it;  and,  by 
considering  the  terms  which  he  uses,  some  information  on 
this  subject  may  be  gained. 

JDes/ie,  translated  "  grass  "  in  our  version,  is  derived  from  a 
verb  signifying  to  spring  up  or  bud  forth  ;  the  same  verb,  in- 
deed, used  in  this  verse  to  denote  "  bringing  forth,"  literally 
causing  to  spring  up.  Its  radical  meaning  is,  therefore,  vege- 
tation in  the  act  of  sprouting  or  springing  forth;  or,  as  con- 
nected with  this,  young  and  delicate  herbage.  Thus,  in  Job 
xxxviii., "  To  satisfy  the  desolate  and  waste  ground,  and  to  cause 
the  bud  ol  \\-\Q  young  herbage  to  spring  forth."  Here  the  ref- 
erence is,  no  doubt,  to  the  bulbous  and  tuberous  rooted  plants 
of  the  desert  plains,  which,  fading  away  in  the  summer 
drought,  burst  forth  with  magical  rapidity  on  the  setting-in 


*  In  further  explanation  of  these  general  geological  changes,  see**  The 
Story  of  the  Earth  and  Man,"  by  the  author. 


TJic  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  187 

of  rain.  The  following  passages  are  similar :  Psalm  xxiii., 
"He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures"  (literally, 
young  or  tender  herbage)  \  Deuteronomy  xxiii.,  "Small  rain 
upon  the  tender  herb;^^  Isaiah  xxxvii.,  "  Grass  on  the  house- 
tops." The  word  is  also  used  for  herbage  such  as  can  be 
eaten  by  cattle  or  cut  down  for  fodder,  though  even  in  these 
cases  the  idea  of  young  and  tender  herbage  is  evidently  in- 
cluded ;  "  Fat  as  a  heifer  at  grass  "  (Jer.  xi\^) — that  is,  feeding 
on  young  succulent  grass,  not  that  which  is  dry  and  parched. 
"  Cut  down  as  the  grass,  or  wither  as  the  green  herb,"  like 
the  soft,  tender  grass,  soon  cut  down  and  quickly  withering. 
With  respect  to  the  use  of  the  word  in  this  place,  I  may  re- 
mark :  I.  It  is  not  here  correctly  translated  by  the  word  "grass ;" 
for  grass  bears  seed,  and  is,  consequently,  a  member  of  the 
second  class  of  plants  mentioned.  Even  if  we  set  aside  all 
idea  of  inspiration,  it  is  obviously  impossible  that  any  one 
living  among  a  pastoral  or  agricultural  people  could  have 
been  ignorant  of  this  fact.  2.  It  can  scarcely  be  a  general 
term,  including  all  plants  when  in  a  young  or  tender  state. 
The  idea  of  their  springing  up  is  included  in  the  verb,  and 
this  was  but  a  very  temporary  condition.  Besides,  this  word 
does  not  appear  to  be  employed  for  the  young  state  of  shrubs 
or  trees.  3.  We  thus  appear  to  be  shut  up  to  the  conclusion 
that  deshe  here  means  those  plants,  mostly  small  and  her- 
baceous, which  bear  no  proper  seeds  ;*  in  other  words,  the 
Cryptogamia — as  fungi,  mosses,  lichens,  ferns,  etc.  The  re- 
maining words  are  translated  with  sufficient  accuracy  in  our 
version.  They  denote  seed-bearing  or  phoenogamous  herbs 
and  trees.  The  special  mention  of  the  fructification  of 
plants  is  probably  intended  not  only  for  distinction,  but  also 

^  *  "  Tenera  herba,  sine  semine  saltern  conspicuo."— Rosenmiiller,  "  Scho- 
lia." 


1 88  Tlie  Origin  of  the  World. 

to  indicate  tlie  new  power  of  organic  reproduction  now  first 
introduced  on  the  surface  of  our  planet,  and  to  mark  its  dif- 
ference from  tlie  creative  act  itself.  That  this  new  and  won- 
drous phenomenon  should  be  so  stated  is  thus  in  strict  sci- 
entific iDropriety,  and  it  is  precisely  the  point  that  would  be 
seized  by  an  intelligent  spectator  of  the  visions  of  creation, 
who  had  previously  witnessed  only  the  accretion  and  disin- 
tegration of  mineral  substances,  and  to  whom  this  marvellous 
power  of  organic  reproduction  would  be  in  every  respect  a 
new  creation. 

The  arrangement  of  plants  in  the  three  great  classes  of 
cryptogams,  seed-bearing  herbs,  and  fruit-bearing  trees  dif- 
fers in  one  important  point — viz.,  the  separation  of  herbaceous 
plants  from  trees — from  modern  botanical  classification.  It 
is,  however,  sufficiently  natural  for  the  purposes  of  a  general 
description  like  this,  and  perhaps  gives  more  precise  ideas  of 
the  meaning  intended  than  any  other  arrangement  equally 
concise  and  popular.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  object  of 
the  writer  was  not  so  much  a  natural-history  classification  as 
an  account  of  the  order  of  creation,  and  that  he  wishes  to  af- 
firm that  the  introduction  of  these  three  classes  of  plants  on 
the  earth  corresponded  with  the  order  here  stated.  This 
view  renders  it  unnecessary  to  vindicate  the  accuracy  of  the 
arrangement  on  botanical  grounds,  since  the  historical  order 
was  evidently  better  suited  to  the  purpose  in  view,  and  in  so 
far  as  the  earlier  appearance  of  cryptogamous  plants  is  con- 
cerned, it  is  in  strict  accordance  with  geological  fact. 

A  very  important  truth  is  contained  in  the  expression 
"after  its  kind"  —  that  is,  after  its  species;  for  the  Hebrew 
^'- min,^^  used  here,  has  strictly  this  sense,  and,  like  the  Greek 
idea  and  the  Latin  species,  conveys  the  notion  of  form  as  well 
as  that  of  kind.     It  is  used  to  denote  species  of  animals, 


TJie  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  189 

in  Leviticus  i.,  14,  and  in  Deuteronomy  xiv.,  15.  We  are 
taught  by  this  statement  that  plants  were  created  each  kind 
by  itself,  and  that  creation  was  not  a  sort  of  slump-work  to  be 
perfected  by  the  operation  of  a  law  of  development,  as  fancied 
by  some  modern  speculators.  In  this  assertion  of  the  distinct- 
ness of  species,  and  the  production  of  each  as  a  distinct  part 
of  the  creative  plan,  revelation  tallies  perfectly  with  the  con- 
clusions of  natural  science,  which  lead  us  to  believe  that 
each  species,  as  observed  by  us,  is  permanently  reproductive, 
variable  within  narrow  limits,  and  incapable  of  permanent  in- 
termixture with  other  species;  and  though  hypotheses  of  mod- 
ification by  descent,  and  of  the  production  of  new  species  by 
such  modification,  may  be  formed,  they  are  not  in  accordance 
with  experience,  and  are  still  among  the  unproved  specula- 
tions which  haunt  the  outskirts  of  true  science.  We  shall  be 
better  prepared,  however,  to  weigh  the  relations  of  such  hy- 
potheses to  our  revelation  of  origins  when  we  shall  have 
reached  the  period  of  the  introduction  of  animal  life. 

Some  additional  facts  contained  in  the  recapitulation  of 
the  creative  work  in  Chapter  II.  may  very  properly  be  con- 
sidered here,  as  they  seem  to  refer  to  the  climatal  conditions 
of  the  earth  during  the  growth  of  the  most  ancient  vegetation^ 
and  before  the  final  adjustment  of  the  astronomical  relations 
of  the  earth  on  the  fourth  day.  "And  every  shrub  of  the 
land  before  it  was  on  the  earth,  and  every  herb  of  the  land 
before  it  sprung  up.  For  the  Lord  God  had  not  caused  it  to 
rain  on  the  earth,  and  there  was  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground ; 
but  a  mist  ascended  from  the  earth  and  watered  the  whole 
surface  of  the  ground."  This  has  been  supposed  to  be  a  de- 
scription of  the  state  of  the  earth  during  the  whole  period  an- 
terior to  the  fiUl  of  man.  There  is,  however,  no  Scripture 
evidence  of  this ;  and  geology  informs  us  that  rain  fell  as  at 


1 90  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

present  far  back  in  the  Palaeozoic  period,  countless  ages  be- 
fore the  creation  of  man  or  the  existing  animals.  Although, 
however,  such  a  condition  of  the  earth  as  that  stated  in  these 
verses  has  not  been  known  in  any  geological  period,  yet  it  is 
not  inconceivable,  but  in  reality  corresponds  with  the  other 
conditions  of  nature  likely  to  have  prevailed  on  the  third  day, 
as  described  in  Genesis.  The  land  of  this  period,  we  may 
suppose,  was  not  very  extensive  nor  very  elevated.  Hence 
the  temperature  would  be  uniform  and  the  air  moist.  The 
luminous  and  calorific  matter  connected  with  the  sun  still 
occupied  a  large  space,  and  therefore  diffused  heat  and  light 
more  uniformly  than  at  present.  The  internal  heat  of  the 
earth  may  still  have  produced  an  effect  in  warming  the  oce- 
anic waters.  The  combined  operation  of  these  causes,  of 
wdiich  we,  perhaps,  have  some  traces  as  late  as  the  Carbon- 
iferous period,  might  well  produce  a  state  of  things  in  which 
the  earth  was  watered,  not  by  showers  of  rain,  but  by  the 
gentle  and  continued  precipitation  of  finely  divided  moisture, 
in  the  manner  now  observed  in  those  climates  in  which  veg- 
etation is  nourished  for  a  considerable  part  of  the  year  by 
nocturnal  mists  and  copious  dews.  The  atmosphere,  in  short, 
as  yet  partook  in  some  slight  degree  of  the  same  moist  and 
misty  character  which  prevailed  before  the  "  establishment  of 
the  clouds  above" — the  airy  firmament  of  the  second  day. 
The  introduction  of  these  explanatory  particulars  by  the  sacred 
historian  furnishes  an  additional  argument  for  the  theory  of 
long  periods.  That  vegetation  should  exist  for  two  or  three 
natural  days  without  rain  or  the  irrigation  which  is  given  in 
culture,  was,  as  already  stated,  a  circumstance  altogether  un- 
worthy of  notice ;  but  the  growth  during  a  long  period  of  a 
varied  and  highly  organized  flora,  without  this  advantage,  and 
by  the  aid  of  a  special  natural  provision  afterward  discontin- 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  191 

ued,  was  in  all  respects  so  remarkable  and  so  highly  illustra- 
tive of  the  expedients  of  the  divine  wisdom  that  it  deserved  a 
prominent  place. 

It  is  evident  that  the  words  of  the  inspired  writer  include 
plants  belonging  to  all  the  great  subdivisions  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  This  earliest  vegetation  was  not  rude  or  incom- 
plete, or  restricted  to  the  lower  forms  of  life.  It  was  not 
even,  like  that  of  the  coal  period,  solely  or  mainly  cryptoga- 
mous  or  gymnospermous.  It  included  trees  bearing  fruit,  as 
well  as  lichens  and  mosses,  and  it  received  the  same  stamp  of 
approbation  bestowed  on  other  portions  of  the  work — "  it  was 
good."  We  have  a  good  right  to  assume  that  its  excellence 
had  reference  not  only  to  its  own  period,  but  to  subsequent 
conditions  of  the  earth.  Vegetation  is  the  great  assimilating 
power,  the  converter  of  inorganic  into  organic  matter  suita- 
ble for  the  sustenance  of  animals.  In  like  manner  the  lower 
tribes  of  plants  prepare  the  way  for  the  higher.  We  should 
therefore  have  expected  a  priori  that  vegetation  would  have 
clothed  the  earth  before  the  creation  of  animals,  and  a  suffi- 
cient time  before  it  to  allow  soils  to  be  accumulated,  and  sur- 
plus stores  of  organic  matter  to  be  prepared  in  advance  :  this 
consideration  alone  would  also  induce  us  to  assign  a  consider- 
able duration  to  the  third  day.  After  the  elevation  of  land, 
and  the  draining  off  from  it  of  the  saline  matter  with  which  it 
would  be  saturated,  a  process  often  very  tedious,  especially  in 
low  tracts  of  ground,  the  soil  would  still  consist  only  of  min- 
eral matter,  and  must  have  been  for  a  long  period  occupied 
by  plants  suited  to  this  condition  of  things,  in  order  that  suf- 
ficient organic  matter  might  be  accumulated  for  the  growth 
of  a  more  varied  vegetation ;  a  consideration  which  perhaps 
illustrates  the  order  of  the  plants  in  the  narrative. 

It  may  be  objected  to  the  above  views  that,  however  ac- 


192  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

cordant  with  chemical  and  physiological  probabilities,  they 
do  not  harmonize  with  the  facts  of  geology ;  since  the  earliest 
fossiliferous  formations  contain  almost  exclusively  the  remains 
of  animals,  which  must  therefore  have  preceded,  or  at  least 
been  coeval  with,  the  earliest  forms  of  terrestrial  vegetation. 
This  objection  is  founded  011  well-ascertained  facts,  but  facts 
which  may  have  no  connection  with  the  third  day  of  creation 
when  regarded  as  a  long  period.  The  oldest  geological  for- 
mations are  of  marine  origin,  and  contain  remains  of  marine 
animals,  with  those  of  plants  supposed  \o  be  allied  to  the  exist- 
ing algae  or  sea-weeds.  Geology  can  not,  however,  assure  us 
either  that  no  land  plants  existed  contemporaneously  with  these 
earliest  animals,  or  that  no  land  flora  preceded  them.  These 
oldest  fossiliferous  rocks  may  mark  the  commencement  of 
animal  life,  but  they  testify  nothing  as  to  the  existence  or 
non-existence  of  a  previous  period  of  vegetation  alone.  Far- 
ther, the  rocks  which  contain  the  oldest  remains  of  life  exist 
as  far  as  yet  known  in  a  condition  so  highly  metamorphic  as 
almost  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  their  containing  any 
distinguishable  vegetable  fossils ;  yet  they  contain  vast  de- 
posits of  carbon  in  the  form  of  graphite,  and  if  this,  like  more 
modern  coaly  matter,  was  accumulated  by  vegetable  growth, 
it  must  indicate  an  exuberance  of  plants  in  these  earliest  ge- 
ological periods,  but  of  plants  as  yet  altogether  unknown  to 
us.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  in  these  Eozoic  rocks  we 
may  have  remnants  of  the  formations  of  the  third  IMosaic  day; 
and  if  we  should  ever  be  so  fortunate  as  to  find  any  portion 
of  them  containing  vegetable  fossils,  and  these  of  species 
differing  from  any  hitherto  known,  either  in  a  fossil  state  or 
recent,  and  rising  higher,  in  elevation  and  complexity  of  type, 
than  the  flora  of  the  succeeding  Silurian  and  Carbonifer- 
ous eras,  we  may  then  suppose  that  we  have  penetrated  to 


The  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  193 

the  monuments  of  this  third  creative  aeon.  The  only  other 
alternative  by  which  these  verses  can  be  reconciled  with  ge- 
ology is  that  adopted  by  the  late  Hugh  Miller,  who  supposes 
that  the  plants  of  the  third  day  are  those  of  the  Carboniferous 
period;  but,  besides  the  apparent  anachronism  involved  in 
this,  we  now  know  that  the  coal  flora  consisted  mainly  of 
cryptogams  allied  to  ferns  and  club-mosses,  and  of  gymno- 
sperms  allied  to  the  pines  and  cycads,  the  higher  orders  of 
plants  being  almost  entirely  wanting.  For  these  reasons  we 
are  shut  up  to  the  conclusion  that  this  flora  of  the  third 
day  must  have  its  place  before  the  Palaeozoic  period  of 
geology. 

To  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  vast  lapse  of  time  re- 
quired by  the  geological  history  of  the  earth,  it  may  be  start- 
ling to  ascribe  the  whole  of  it  to  three  or  four  of  the  creative 
days.  If,  however,  it  be  admitted  that  these  days  were  pe- 
riods of  unknown  duration,  no  reason  remains  for  limiting 
their  length  any  farther  than  the  facts  of  the  case  require. 
If  in  the  strata  of  the  earth  which  are  accessible  to  us  we  can 
detect  the  evidence  of  its  existence  for  myriads  of  years,  why 
may  not  its  Creator  be  able  to  carry  our  view  back  for  myr- 
iads more.  It  may  be  humbling  to  our  pride  of  knowledge, 
but  it  is  not  on  any  scientific  ground  improbable,  that  the 
oldest  animal  remains  known  to  geology  belong  to  the  middle 
period  of  the  earth's  history,  and  were  preceded  by  an  enor- 
mous lapse  of  ages  in  which  the  earth  was  being  prepared  for 
animal  existence,  but  of  which  no  records  remain,  except 
those  contained  in  the  inspired  history. 

It  would  be  quite  unphilosophical  for  geology  to  affirm 
either  that  animal  life  must  always  have  existed,  or  that  its 
earliest  animals  are  necessarily  the  earliest  organic  beings. 
To  use,  with  a  slight  modification,  the  words  of  an  able  think- 

I 


194  ^/^^  Origin  of  the  World, 

er  on  these  subjects,*  "For  ages  the  prejudice  prevailed  that 
the  historical  period,  or  that  which  is  coeval  with  the  life  of 
man,  exhausted  the  whole  history  of  the  globe.  Geologists 
removed  that  prejudice,"  but  must  not  substitute  "  another  in 
its  place,  viz.,  that  geological  time  is  coeval  with  the  globe  it- 
self, or  that  organic  life  always  existed  on  its  surface." 

A  second  doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  this  primitive  flora 
may  be  based  on  the  statement  that  it  included  the  highest 
forms  of  plants.  Had  it  consisted  only  of  low  and  imperfect 
vegetables,  there  might  have  been  much  less  difficulty  in  ad- 
mitting its  probability.  Farther,  we  find  that  even  in  the 
Carboniferous  period  scarcely  any  plants  of  the  higher  orders 
flourished,  and  there  was  a  preponderance  of  the  lower  forms 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  We  have,  however,  in  geological 
chronology,  many  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  the  progress 
of  improvement  has  not  been  continuous  or  uninterrupted, 
and  that  the  preservation  of  the  flora  and  fauna  of  many  ge- 
ological periods  has  been  very  imperfect.  Hence  the  occur- 
rence in  one  particular  stratum  or  group  of  strata  of  few  or 
low  representatives  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  affords  no 
proof  that  a  better  state  of  things  may  not  have  existed  pre- 
viously. We  also  find,  in  the  case  of  animals,  that  each  tribe 
attained  to  its  highest  development  at  the  time  when,  in  the 
progress  of  creation,  it  occupied  the  summit  of  the  scale  of 
life.  Analogy  would  thus  lead  us  to  believe  that  when  plants 
alone  existed,  they  may  have  assumed  nobler  forms  than  any 
now  existing,  or  that  tribes  now  represented  by  few  and  hum- 
ble species  may  at  that  time  have  been  so  great  in  numbers 
and  development  as  to  fill  all  the  offices  of  our  present  com- 
plicated flora,  as  well  as,  perhaps,  some  of  those  now  occupied 

*  Haughton,  Address  to  the  Geological  Society,  Dublin. 


TJie  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  195 

by  animals.  We  have  this  principle  exemplified  in  the  Car- 
boniferous flora,  by  the  magnitude  of  its  arborescent  club- 
mosses,  and  the  vast  variety  of  its  gymnosperms.  For  this 
reason  we  may  anticipate  that  if  any  remains  of  this  early 
plant-creation  should  be  disinterred,  they  will  prove  to  be 
among  the  most  wonderful  and  interesting  geological  relics 
ever  discovered,  and  will  enlarge  our  views  of  the  compass 
and  capabilities  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  especially  of 
its  lower  forms. 

A  farther  objection  is  the  uselessness  of  the  existence  of 
plants  for  a  long  period,  without  any  animals  to  subsist  on  or 
enjoy  them,  and  even  without  forming  any  accumulation  of 
fossil  fuel  or  other  products  useful  to  man.  The  only  direct 
answer  to  this  has  already  been  given.  The  previous  exist- 
ence of  plants  may  have  been,  and  probably  was,  essential  to 
the  comfort  and  subsistence  of  the  animals  afterwards  intro- 
duced. Independently  of  this,  however,  we  have  an  analo- 
gous case  in  the  geological  history  of  animals,  which  prevents 
this  fact  from  standing  alone.  Why  was  the  earth  tenanted 
so  long  by  the  inferior  races  of  animals,  and  why  were  so 
much  skill  and  contrivance  expended  on  their  structures,  and 
even  on  their  external  ornament,  when  there  was  no  intelligent 
mind  on  earth  to  appreciate  their  beauties.  Even  in  the  pres- 
ent world  we  may  as  well  ask  why  the  uninhabited  islands 
of  the  ocean  are  found  to  be  replete  with  luxuriant  vegetable 
life,  whv  God  causes  it  to  rain  in  the  desert  where  human  foot 
never  treads,  or  why  he  clothes  with  a  marvellous  exuberance 
of  beautiful  animal  and  plant  forms  the  depths  of  the  sea.  We 
can  but  say  that  these  things  seemed  and  seem  good  to  the 
Creator,  and  may  serve  uses  unknown  to  us ;  and  this  is  pre- 
cisely what  we  must  be  content  to  say  respecting  the  plant- 
creation  of  the  Eozoic  period. 


196  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Some  writers*  on  this  subject  have  suggested  that  the  cos- 
mical  use  of  this  plant-creation  was  the  abstraction  from  the 
atmosphere  of  an  excess  of  carbonic  acid  unfavorable  to  the 
animal  life  subsequently  to  be  introduced.  This  use  it  may 
have  served,  and  when  its  effects  had  been  gradually  lost 
through  metamorphism  and  decay,  that  second  great  with- 
drawal of  carbon  which  took  place  in  the  Carboniferous  pe- 
riod may  have  been  rendered  necessary.  The  reasons  afford- 
ed by  natural  history  for  supposing  that  plants  preceded  ani- 
mals are  thus  stated  by  Professor  Dana : 

"  The  proof  from  science  of  the  existence  of  plants  before 
animals  is  inferential,  and  still  may  be  deemed  satisfactory. 
Distinct  fossils  have  not  been  found,  all  that  ever  existed  in 
the  azoic t  rocks  having  been  obliterated.  The  arguments  in 
the  affirmative  are  as  follows  : 

"  I.  The  existence  of  limestone  rocks  among  the  other  beds, 
similar  limestones  in  later  ages  having  been  of  organic  origin  ; 
also  the  occurrence  of  carbon  in  the  shape  of  graphite,  graph- 
ite being,  in  known  cases  in  rocks,  a  result  of  the  alteration 
of  the  carbon  of  plants. 

"2.  The  fact  that  the  cooling  earth  would  have  been  fitted 
for  vegetable  life  for  a  long  age  before  animals  could  have 
existed ;  the  principle  being  exemplified  everywhere  that  the 
earth  was  occupied  at  each  period  with  the  highest  kinds  of 
life  the  conditions  allowed. 

"3.  The  fact  that  vegetation  subserved  an  important  pur- 


*  See  McDonakI,  "  Creation  and  the  Fall."  Professor  Guyot,  I  believe, 
deserves  the  credit  of  having  first  mentioned,  on  the  American  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  the  doctrine  respecting  the  introduction  of  plants  advocated  in 
this  chapter. 

t  "Eozoic"  of  this  work.  Professor  Dana  in  the  latest  edition  of  his 
Manual  uses  the  name  "Archaean." 


TJie  Dry  Land  and  the  First  Plants.  197 

pose  in  the  coal-period  in  ridding  the  atmosphere  of  carbonic 
acid  for  the  subsequent  introduction  of  land  animals,  suggests 
a  valid  reason  for  believing  that  the  same  great  purpose,  the 
true  purpose  of  vegetation,  was  effected  through  the  ocean 
before  the  waters  were  fitted  for  animal  life. 

"4.  Vegetation  being  directly  or  mediately  the  food  of 
animals,  it  must  have  had  a  previous  existence.  The  latter 
part  of  the  azoic  age  in  geology  we  therefore  regard  as  the 
age  when  the  plant  kingdom  was  instituted,  the  latter  half  of 
the  third  day  in  Genesis.  However  short  or  long  the  epoch, 
it  was  one  of  the  great  steps  of  progress." 

In  concluding  the  examination  of  the  work  of  the  third  day, 
I  must  again  remind  the  reader  that,  on  the  theory  of  long 
creative  periods,  the  words  under  consideration  must  refer  to 
the  first  introduction  of  vegetation,  in  forms  that  have  long 
since  ceased  to  exist.  Geology  informs  us  that  in  the  period 
of  which  it  is  cognizant  the  vegetation  of  the  earth  has  been 
several  times  renewed,  and  that  no  plants  of  the  older  and 
middle  geological  periods  now  exist.  We  may  therefore  rest 
assured  that  the  vegetable  species,  and  probably  also  many 
of  the  generic  and  family  forms  of  the.  vegetation  of  the  third 
day,  have  long  since  perished,  and  been  replaced  by  others 
suited  to  the  changed  condition  of  the  earth.  It  is  indeed 
probable  that  during  the  third  and  fourth  days  themselves 
there  might  be  many  removals  and  renewals  of  the  terrestrial 
flora,  so  that  perhaps  every  species  created  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  introduction  of  plants  may  have  been  extinct  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  period.  Nevertheless  it  was  marked  by 
the  introduction  of  vegetation,  which  in  one  or  another  set  of 
forms  has  ever  since  clothed  the  earth. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  third  day  the  earth  was  still 
covered    by    the   waters.     As    time    advanced    islands    and 


198  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

mountain-peaks  arose  from  the  ocean,  vomiting  forth  the 
molten  and  igneous  materials  of  the  interior  of  the  earth's 
crust.  Plains  and  valleys  were  then  spread  around,  rivers 
traced  out  their  beds,  and  the  ocean  was  limited  by  coasts 
and  divided  by  far-stretching  continents.  At  the  command 
of  the  Creator  plants  sprung  from  the  soil — the  earliest  of 
organized  structures — at  first  probably  few  and  small,  and 
fitted  to  contend  against  the  disadvantages  of  soils  impreg- 
nated with  saline  particles  and  destitute  of  organic  matter ; 
but  as  the  day  advanced  increasing  in  number,  magnitude, 
and  elevation,  until  at  length  the  earth  was  clothed  with  a 
luxuriant  and  varied  vegetation,  worthy  the  approval  of  the 
Creator,  and  the  admiring  song  of  the  angelic  "sons  of 
God." 


Luminaries. 


199 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LUMINARIES. 

"And  God  said,  Let  there  be  luminaries  in  the  expanse  of  heaven,  to 
divide  the  day  from  the  night ;  and  let  them  be  for  signs  and  for  seasons, 
and  for  days  and  for  years.  And  let  them  be  for  luminaries  in  the  ex- 
panse of  heaven,  to  give  light  on  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so. 

"And  God  made  two  great  luminaries,  the  greater  luminary  to  preside 
over  the  day,  the  lesser  luminary  to  preside  over  the  night.  He  made 
the  stars  also.  And  God  placed  them  in  the  expanse  of  heaven  to  give 
light  on  the  earth,  and  to  preside  over  the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to 
separate  the  light  from  the  darkness  :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  And 
the  evening  and  the  morning  w^ere  the  fourth  day." — Genesis  i.,  14-19. 

After  so  long  a  sojourn  on  the  earth,  we  are  in  these 
verses  again  carried  to  the  heavens.  Every  scientific  reader 
is  struck  with  the  position  of  this  remarkable  statement,  inter- 
rupting as  it  does  the  progress  of  the  organic  creation,  and 
constituting  a  break  in  the  midst  of  the  terrestrial  history 
which  is  the  immediate  subject  of  the  narrative ;  thus,  in 
effect,  as  has  often  been  remarked,  dividing  the  creative 
week  into  two  portions.  Why  was  the  completion  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  so  long  delayed  t  Why  were  light  and  veg- 
etation introduced  previously  ?  If  we  can  not  fully  answer 
these  questions,  we  may  at  least  suppose  that  the  position  of 
these  verses  is  not  accidental,  though  certainly  not  that  which 
would  have  been  chosen  for  its  own  sake  by  any  fabricator 
of  systems  ancient  or  modern.  Let  us  inquire,  however, 
what  are  the  precise  terms  of  the  record. 


200  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

1.  The  word  here  used  to  denote  the  objects  produced  clear- 
ly distinguishes  them  from  the  product  of  the  first  day's  cre- 
ation. Then  God  said,  "  Let  light  be ;"  he  now  says,  "  Let  lu- 
minaries or  light-bearers  be."  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
light  of  the  first  day  may  have  emanated  from  an  extended 
luminous  mass,  at  first  occupying  the  whole  extent  of  the 
solar  system,  and  more  or  less  attached  to  the  several  planetary 
bodies,  and  afterwards  concentrated  within  the  earth's  orbit. 
The  verses  now  under  consideration  inform  us  that  the  proc- 
ess of  concentration  was  now  complete,  that  our  great  cen- 
tral luminary  had  attained  to  its  perfect  state.  This  proc- 
ess of  concentration  may  have  been  proceeding  during  the 
whole  of  the  intervening  time,  or  it  may  have  been  com- 
pleted at  once  by  some  more  rapid  process  of  the  nature  of 
a  direct  interposition  of  creative  power. 

2.  The  division  of  light  from  darkness  is  expressed  by  the 
same  terms,  and  is  of  the  same  nature  with  that  on  the  first 
day.  This  separation  was  now  produced  in  its  full  extent  by 
the  perfect  condensation  of  the  luminiferous  matters  around 
the  sun. 

3.  The  heavenly  bodies  are  said  to  be  intended  for  signs — 
that  is,  for  marks  or  indications — either  of  the  seasons,  days, 
and  years  afterwards  mentioned,  or  of  the  majesty  and 
power  of  the  true  God,  as  the  Creator  of  objects  so  grand 
and  elevated  as  to  become  to  the  ignorant  heathen  objects 
of  idolatrous  worship  ;  or  perhaps  of  the  earthly  events  they 
are  supposed  to  influence.  The  arrangements  now  perfected 
for  the  first  time  enabled  natural  days,  seasons,  and  years 
to  have  their  limits  accurately  marked.  Previously  to  this 
period  there  had  been  no  distinctly  marked  seasons,  and 
consequently  no  natural  separation  of  years,  nor  were  the 
limits  of  days  at  all  accurately  defined. 


Luminaries.  201 

4.  The  terms  expanse  and  heaven,  previously  applied  to  the 
atmosphere,  are  here  combined  to  denote  the  more  distant 
starry  and  planetary  heavens.  There  is  no  ambiguity  in- 
volved in  this,  since  the  writer  must  have  well  known  that  no 
one  could  so  far  mistake  as  to  suppose  that  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  placed  in  that  atmospheric  expanse  which  sup- 
ports the  clouds. 

5.  The  luminaries  were  made  or  appointed  to  their  office  on 
the  fourth  day.  They  are  not  said  to  have  been  created,  be- 
ing included  in  the  creation  of  the  beginning.  They  were 
now  completed,  and  fully  fitted  for  their  work.  An  impor- 
tant part  of  this  fitting  seems  to  have  been  the  setting  or 
placing  them  in  the  heavens,  conveying  to  us  the  impression 
that  the  mutual  relations  and  regular  motions  of  the  heaven- 
ly bodies  were  now  for  the  first  time  perfected. 

6.  The  stars  are  introduced  in  a  parenthetical  manner, 
which  leaves  it  doubtful  whether  we  are  merely  informed 
in  general  terms  that  they  are  works  of  God,  as  well  as  those 
heavenly  bodies  which  are  of  more  importance  to  us,  or  that 
they  were  arranged  as  heavenly  luminaries  useful  to  our 
earth  on  the  fourth  day.  The  term  includes  the  fixed  stars, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  probable  that  these  were  in  any  way 
affected  by  the  work  referred  to  the  fourth  day,  any  farther 
than  their  appearance  from  our  earth  is  concerned.  This 
view  is  confirmed  by  the  language  of  the  104th  Psalm,  which 
in  this  part  of  the  work  mentions  the  sun  and  moon  alone, 
without  the  fixed  stars  or  planets. 

It  is  evident  that  the  changes  referred  to  this  period  re- 
lated to  the  whole  solar  system,  and  resulted  in  the  comple- 
tion of  that  system  in  the  form  which  it  now  bears,  or  at 
least  in  the  final  adjustment  of  the  motions  and  relations  of 
the  earth;  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  condensa- 

I  2 


202  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

tion  of  the  luminous  envelope  around  the  sun  was  one  of  the 
most  important  of  these  changes.  On  the  hypothesis  of  La 
Place,  already  referred  to  as  most  in  accordance  with  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  work,  ther^  seems  to  be  no  especial 
reason  why  the  completion  of  the  process  of  elaboration  of 
the  sun  and  planets  should  be  accelerated  at  this  particular 
stage.  We  can  easily  understand,  however,  that  those  clos- 
ing steps  which  brought  the  solar  system  into  a  state  of  per- 
manent and  final  equilibrium  would  form  a  marked  epoch  in 
the  work ;  and  we  can  also  understand  that  now,  on  the  eve 
of  the  introduction  of  animal  life,  there  is  a  certain  propriety 
in  the  representation  of  the  Creator  interfering  to  close  up 
the  merely  inorganic  part  of  his  great  work,  and  bring  this 
department  at  least  to  its  final  perfection.  The  fourth  day, 
then,  in  geological  language,  marks  the  complete  vit7'oduction 
of "  existing  causes  "  i?t  itiorgafiic  nature,  and  we  henceforth 
find  no  more  creative  interference,  except  in  the  domain  of 
organization.  This  accords  admirably  with  the  deductions 
of  modern  geology,  and  especially  with  that  great  principle 
so  well  expounded  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  and  which  forms 
the  true  basis  of  modern  geological  reasonings — that  we 
should  seek  in  existing  causes  of  change  for  the  explanation 
of  the  appearances  of  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust.  Geol- 
ogy probably  carries  us  back  to  the  introduction  of  animal 
life ;  and  shows  us  that  since  that  time  land,  sea,  and  at- 
mosphere, summer  and  winter,  day  and  night — all  the  great 
inorganic  conditions  affecting  animal  life — have  existed  as  at 
present,  and  have  been  subject  to  modifications  the  same  in 
kind  with  those  which  they  now  experience,  though  perhaps 
different  in  degree.  In  this  ancient  record  we  find  in  like 
manner  that  the  period  immediately  preceding  the  creation 
of  animals  witnessed  the  completion  of  all  the  great  general 


Ltiminaries,  203 

arrangements  on  which  these  phenomena  depend.  The  Bible, 
therefore,  and  science  agree  in  the  truth  that  existing  causes 
have  been  in  full  force  since  the  creation  of  animals ;  and 
that  since  that  period  the  exercise  of  creative  power  has 
been  limited  to  the  organic  world.  This  has  a  curious  bear- 
ing, not  often  thought  of,  on  modern  theories  of  evolution  as 
compared  with  the  teaching  of  the  Bible.  In  one  important 
sense,  absolute  creation,  in  so  far  as  the  inorganic  universe  is 
concerned,  is  in  our  Mosaic  narrative  limited  to  the  produc- 
tion of  matter  and  force  at  first.  All  else  is  called  makinar, 
forming,  or  appointing.  Thus  the  production  of  all  the  ar- 
rangements of  the  waters,  the  atmosphere,  the  earth,  and  the 
heavens,  in  the  work  of  the  first  four  days,  and  even  the  in- 
troduction of  plants,  may  be  correctly  termed  an  evolution 
or  development  from  preformed  materials,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception that  the  reproductive  power  and  specific  diversities 
of  plants  are  recognized  as  entirely  new  facts.  Creation  is 
properly  resumed  when  animal  life  is  introduced.  Hence, 
in  so  far  as  a  comparison  with  the  terms  of  Genesis  is  con- 
cerned, hypotheses  as  to  the  evolution  of  animal  life  from  in- 
organic matter  are  in  a  different  position  from  hypotheses 
as  to  the  previous  evolution  of  the  parts  of  inorganic  nature ; 
and  still  more  so  from  statements  as  to  the  progress  of  in- 
organic nature  subsequent  to  the  introduction  of  animals ; 
since  within  that  period,  which  really  includes  the  whole  of 
geological  time,  absolutely  no  creation  whatever  in  the  do- 
main of  inanimate  nature  is  affirmed  in  the  Biblical  record  to 
have  taken  place.  On  the  contrar}^  all  the  arrangements  of 
inorganic  nature  are  represented  as  finally  completed  before 
the  creation  of  animals. 

The  obliquity  of  the  earth's  axis,  which  gives  us  the  changes 
of  the  seasons,  is  apparently  included  in  the  arrangements 


204  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

of  the  fourth  creative  day.  The  cause  of  this  obliquity,  and 
the  time  when  it  may  have  attained  to  its  present  amount, 
have  been  fertile  themes  of  discussion.  It  is  clear,  however, 
that  if  this  obliquity  was  established,  as  appears  to  be  stated 
here,  before  the  introduction  of  animal  life,  it  can  have  no 
bearing  on  the  changes  of  climate  of  ^vhich  we  have  evi- 
dence in  geological  time  since  the  dawn  of  animal  life,  un- 
less, indeed,  it  is  capable  of  greater  variation  than  astron- 
omers admit  j  and  the  same  remark  applies  to  supposed 
changes  in  the  position  of  the  poles  themselves.  There  is, 
however,  nothing  in  this  record  to  oppose  the  idea  of  any 
secular  changes  in  these  arrangements  under  the  laws  ap- 
pointed in  the  fourth  creative  period. 

The  record  relating  to  the  fourth  day  is  silent  respecting 
the  mundane  history  of  the  period  ;  and  geology  gives  no 
very  certain  information  concerning  it.  If,  however,  we  as- 
sume that  any  of  the  Eozoic  or  pre-eozoic  rocks  are  deposits 
of  this  or  the  preceding  period,  w^e  may  infer  from  the  dis- 
turbances and  alteration  which  these  have  suffered,  prior  to 
the  deposition  of  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian,  that  during  or 
toward  the  close  of  this  day  the  crust  of  the  earth  was  af- 
fected by  great  movements.  There  is  another  consideration 
also  leading  to  important  conclusions  in  relation  to  this  pe- 
riod. In  the  earliest  fossiliferous  rocks  there  seems  to  be 
good  evidence  that  the  dry  land  contemporary  with  the  seas 
in  which  they  were  formed  was  of  very  small  extent.  Now, 
since  on  the  third  day  a  very  plentiful  and  highly  developed 
vegetation  was  produced,  we  may  infer  that  during  that  peri- 
od the  extent  of  dry  land  was  considerable,  and  was  probably 
gradually  increasing.  If,  then,  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian 
systems,  so  rich  in  marine  organic  remains,  belong  to  the 
commencement  of  the  fifth  day,  we  must  conclude  that  dur- 


Luminaries.  205 

ing  the  fourth  much  of  the  land  previously  existing  had  been 
again  submerged.  In  other  words,  during  the  third  day  the 
extent  of  terrestrial  surface  was  increasing,  on  the  fourth  day 
it  diminished,  and  on  the  fifth  it  again  increased,  and  proba- 
bly has  on  the  whole  continued  to  increase  up  to  the  present 
time.  One  most  important  geological  consequence  of  this  is 
that  the  marine  animals  of  the  fifth  day  probably  commenced 
their  existence  on  sea  bottoms  which  were  the  old  soil  sur- 
faces of  submerged  continents  previously  clothed  with  vege- 
tation, and  which  consequently  contained  much  organic  mat- 
ter fitted  to  form  a  basis  of  support  for  the  newly  created  an- 
imals. 

I  shall  close  my  remarks  on  the  fourth  day  by  a  few  quo- 
tations from  those  passages  of  Scripture  which  refer  to  the 
objects  of  this  day's  work.  I  have  already  referred  to  that 
beautiful  passage  in  Deuteronomy  where  the  Israelites  are 
warned  against  the  crime  of  worshipping  those  heavenly 
bodies  which  the  Lord  God  hath  "divided  to  every  nation 
under  the  whole  heaven."  In  the  book  of  Job  also  we  find 
that  the  heavenly  bodies  were  in  his  day  regarded  as  signal 
manifestations  of  the  power  of  God,  and  that  several  of  the 
principal  constellations  had  received  names  : 

''  He  commandeth  the  sun,  and  it  shineth  not ; 
He  sealeth  up  the  stars  ;* 
He  alone  spreadeth  out  the  heavens, 
And  walketh  on  the  high  waves  of  the  sea  ;t 

*  This  may  refer  to  an  eclipse,  but  from  the  character  of  the  preceding 
verses  more  probably  to  the  obscurity  of  a  tempest.  It  is  remarkable  that 
eclipses,  which  so  much  strike  the  minds  of  men  and  affect  them  with  su- 
perstitious awe,  are  not  distinctly  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,  though 
referred  to  in  the  prophetical  parts  of  the  New  Testament. 

t  Perhaps  rather  the  high  places  of  the  waters,  referring  to  the  atmos- 
pheric waters. 


2o6  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

He  maketh  Arcturus,  Orion, 

The  Pleiades,  and  the  hidden  chambers  of  the  south ; 

Who  doeth  great  things  past  finding  out ; 

Yea,  marvellous  things  beyond  number." 

—Job  ix.,  9. 

"  Canst  thou  tighten  the  bonds  of  the  Pleiades,* 
Or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ? 

Canst  thou  bring  forth  the  Mazzaroth  in  their  season, 
Or  lead  forth  Arcturus  and  its  sons? 
Knowest  thou  the  laws  of  the  heavens. 
Or  hast  thou  appointed  their  dominion  over  the  earth?" 

— Job  xxxviii.,  31. 

I  may  merely  remark  on  these  passages  that  the  chambers 
of  the  south  are  supposed  to  be  those  parts  of  the  southern 
heavens  invisible  in  the  latitude  in  which  Job  resided.  The 
bonds  of  Pleiades  and  of  Orion  probably  refer  to  the  ajDpar- 
ently  close  union  of  the  stars  of  the  former  group,  and  the 
wide  separation  of  those  of  the  latter;  a  difference  which,  to 
the  thoughtful  observer  of  the  heavens,  is  more  striking  than 
most  instances  of  that  irregular  grouping  of  the  stars  which 
still  forms  a  question  in  astronomy,  from  the  uncertainty 
whether  it  is  real,  or  only  an  optical  deception  arising  from 
stars  at  different  distances  coming  nearly  into  a  line  with 
each  other.  I  have  seen  in  some  recent  astronomical  work 
this  very  instance  of  the  Pleiades  and  Orion  taken  as  a  mark- 
ed illustration  of  this  problematical  fact  in  astronomy.     Maz- 


*  The  rendering  "  sweet  influences  "  in  our  version  may  be  correct,  but 
the  weight  of  argument  appears  to  favor  the  view  of  Gesenius  that  the 
close  bond  of  union  between  the  stars  of  this  group  is  referred  to.  I 
think  it  is  Herder  who  well  unites  both  views,  the  Pleiades  being  bound 
together  in  a  sisterly  union,  and  also  ushering  in  the  spring  by  their  ap- 
pearance above  the  horizon.  Conant  applies  the  whole  to  the  seasons, 
the  bands  of  Orion  being  in  this  view  those  of  winter. 


Ltuninaries. 


207 


zaroth  are  supposed  by  modern  expositors  to  be  the  signs  of 
the  Zodiac. 

On  the  whole,  the  Hebrew  books  give  us  little  information 
as  to  the  astronomical  theories  of  the  time  when  they  were 
written.  They  are  entirely  non-committal  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  connections  and  revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies;  and 
indeed  regard  these  as  matters  in  their  time  beyond  the  grasp 
of  the  human  mind,  though  well  known  to  the  Creator  and 
regulated  by  his  laws.  From  other  sources  we  have  facts 
leading  to  the  belief  that  even  in  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
certainly  in  that  of  the  later  Biblical  writers,  there  was  not  a 
little  practical  astronomy  in  the  East,  and  some  good  theory. 
The  Hindoo  astronomy  professes  to  have  observations  from 
3000  B.C.,  and  the  arguments  of  Baily  and  others,  founded 
on  internal  evidence,  give  some  color  of  truth  to  the  claim. 
The  Chaldeans  at  a  very  early  period  had  ascertained  the 
principal  circles  of  the  sphere,  the  position  of  the  poles,  and 
the  nature  of  the  apparent  motions  of  the  heavens  as  the  re- 
sults of  revolution  on  an  inclined  axis.  The  Egyptian  astron- 
omy we  know  mainly  from  what  the  Greeks  borrowed  from  it. 
Thales,  640  B.C.,  taught  that  the  moon  is  lighted  by  the  sun,, 
and  that  the  earth  is  spherical,  and  the  position  of  its  five 
zones.  Pythagoras,  580  B.C.,  knew,  in  addition  to  the  sphe- 
ricity of  the  earth,  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic,  the  identity  of 
the  evening  and  morning  star,  and  that  the  earth  revolves 
round  the  sun.  This  Greek  astronomy  appears  immediately 
after  the  opening  of  Egypt  to  the  Greeks ;  and  both  these 
philosophers  studied  in  that  country.  Such  knowledge,  and 
more  of  the  same  character,  may  therefore  have  existed  in 
Eg}'pt  at  a  much  earlier  period. 

The  Psalms  abound  in  beautiful  references  to  the  creation 
of  the  fourth  day  : 


2o8  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

"  When  I  consider  the  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
The  moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained ; 
What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ? 
Or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him  ?" 

— Psalm  viii. 

"Who  telleth  the  number  of  the  stars, 
Who  calleth  them  all  by  their  names. 
Great  is  our  Lord,  and  of  great  praise ; 
His  understanding  is  infinite. 
The  Lord  lifteth  up  the  meek; 
He  casteth  the  wicked  to  the  ground." 

— Psalm  cxlvii. 

"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
The  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork  ; 
Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech, 
Night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge. 
They  have  no  speech  nor  language. 
Their  voice  is  not  heard ; 
Yet  their  line  is  gone  out  to  all  the  earth. 
And  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
In  them  hath  he  set  a  pavilion  for  the  sun, 
Which  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  chamber, 
And  rejoiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race. 
^  Its  going  forth  is  from  the  end  of  the  heavens, 

And  its  circuit  unto  the  end  of  them. 
And  there  is  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof" 

— Psalm  xix. 

These  are  excellent  illustrations  of  the  truth  of  the  Scrip- 
ture mode  of  treating  natural  objects,  in  connection  with 
their  Maker.  It  is  but  a  barren  and  fruitless  philosophy 
which  sees  the  work  and  not  its  author — a  narrow  piety 
which  loves  God  but  despises  his  works.  The  Bible  holds 
forth  the  golden  mean  between  these  extremes,  in  a  strain  of 
lofty  poetry  and  acute  perception  of  the  great  and  beautiful, 
'whether  seen  in  the  Creator  or  reflected  from  his  works. 


Luminaries. 


J09 


The  work  of  this  day  opens  up  a  wide  field  for  astronom- 
ical illustration,  more  especially  in  relation  to  the  wisdom 
and  benevolence  of  the  Creator  as  displayed  in  the  heavens ; 
but  it  would  be  foreign  to  our  present  purpose  to  enter  into 
these. 

It  may  be  well,  however,  to  think  for  a  moment  of  the 
importance  of  the  facts  suggested  by  the  writer  of  Genesis  in 
mentioning  the  use  of  the  heavenly  bodies  as  signs  of  time. 
To  what  extent  civilization  or  even  the  continued  existence  of 
man  as  an  intelligent  being  would  have  been  possible  with- 
out the  marks  of  subdivision  of  time  given  by  the  great  astro- 
nomical clock  of  the  universe,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  us 
to  imagine.  Without  such  marks  of  time,  in  any  case,  the 
whole  fabric  of  human  culture  must  have  been  different  from 
what  it  is.  Farther,  in  connection  with  this,  it  is  a  grand 
thought  of  our  early  revelation  that  all  these  heavenly  bodies, 
however  magnificent,  and  however  they  might  seem  to  the 
heathen  to  be  objects  of  worship,  are  but  marks  on  God's 
clock,  parts  of  a  mere  machine  which  keeps  time  for  us,  and 
is  therefore  our  servant,  as  the  children  of  the  great  Artificer, 
and  not  our  ruler.  The  idea  has  been  termed  an  astrolog- 
ical one ;  but  astrology  as  a  means  of  divination  has  no 
place  in  the  record.  The  heavenly  bodies  are  under  the  law 
of  the  Creator,  and  their  function  relatively  to  us  is  to  give 
light  and  to  give  time.  Astrological  divination  is  an  out- 
growth of  the  Sabasan  idolatry,  and  held  in  abomination 
by  the  monotheistic  author  of  Genesis.  His  object  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  following  general  statements : 

I.  The  heavenly  hosts  and  their  arrangements  are  the  work 
of  Jehovah,  and  are  regulated  wholly  by  his  laws  or  ordi- 
nances ;  a  striking  illustration  of  the  recognition  by  the  He- 
brew writer  both   of  creative   interference,  and  that  stable. 


210  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

natural   law  which   too   often   withdraws   the   mind   of  the 
philosopher  from  the  ideas  of  creation  and  of  providence. 

2.  The  heavenly  bodies  have  a  relation  to  the  earth — are 
parts  of  the  same  plan,  and,  whatever  other  uses  they  were 
made  to  serve,  were  made  for  the  benefit  of  man. 

3.  The  general  physical  arrangements  of  the  solar  system 
were  perfected  before  the  introduction  of  animals  on  our 
planet. 


TJie  Loiver  Afiimals.  211 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   LOWER   ANIMALS. 

"And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  swarm  with  swarming  living  creatures, 
and  let  birds  fly  on  the  surface  of  the  expanse  of  heaven.  And  God 
created  great  reptiles,  and  every  living  moving  thing,  which  the  waters 
brought  forth  abundantly,  after  their  kind,  and  every  bird  after  its  kind ; 
and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

"  And  God  blessed  them,  saying,  Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  fill  the 
waters  of  the  seas,  and  let  the  flying  creatures  multiply  in  the  earth.  And 
the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  fifth  day." — Genesis  i.,  20-23. 

In  these  words,  so  full  of  busy,  active,  thronging  life,  we 
now  enter  on  that  part  of  the  earth's  history  which  has  been 
most  fully  elucidated  by  geology,  and  we  have  thus  an  ad- 
ditional reason  for  carefully  weighing  the  terms  of  the  narra- 
tive, which  here,  as  in  other  places,  contain  large  and  impor- 
tant truths  couched  in  language  of  the  simplest  character. 

I.  In  accordance  with  the  views  now  entertained  by  the 
best  lexicographers,  the  word  translated  in  our  version  "creep- 
ing things"  has  been  rendered  "prolific  or  swarming  creat- 
ures." The  Hebrew  is  Sherefz,  a  noun  derived  from  the  verb 
used  in  this  verse  to  denote  bringing  forth  abundantly.  It  is 
loosely  translated  in  the  Septuagint  Erpeta,  reptiles  ;  and  this 
view  our  English  translators  appear  to  have  adopted,  without, 
perhaps,  any  very  clear  notions  of  the  creatures  intended. 
The  manner  in  which  it  is  used  in  other  passages  places  its 
true  meaning  beyond  doubt.     I  select  as  illustrations  of  the 


212  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

most  apposite  character  those  verses  in  Leviticus  in  which 
clean  and  unclean  animals  are  specified,  and  in  which  we 
have  a  right  to  expect  the  most  precise  zoological  nomen- 
clature that  the  Hebrew  can  afford.  In  Leviticus  xi.,  20-23, 
ijtsects  are  defined  to  h^  flying  sheretzim^  and  in  verse  29,  etc., 
under  the  designation  '^ sheretzim  of  the  land,''  we  have  ani- 
mals named  in  our  version  the  weasel,  mouse,  tortoise,  ferret, 
chameleon,  lizard,  snail,  and  mole.  The  first  of  these  ani- 
mals is  believed  to  have  been  a  burrowing  creature,  perhaps 
a  mole;  the  second,  from  the  meaning  of  its  name,  "ravager 
of  fields,"  is  thought  to  have  been  a  mouse.  Some  doubt, 
however,  attends  both  of  these  identifications,  but  it  appears 
certain  that  the  remaining  six  species  are  small  reptiles,  prin- 
cipally lizards.  We  learn,  therefore,  that  the  smaller  reptiles, 
and  perhaps  also  a  few  small  mammals,  are  sheretzim.  In 
verses  41  and  42  we  are  introduced  to  other  tribes.  "And 
every  sheretz  that  swarmeth  on  the  earth  shall  be  an  abomina- 
tion unto  you ;  it  shall  not  be  eaten ;  whatsoever  goeth  upon 
the  belly  (serpents,  worms,  snails,  etc.),  and  whatsoever  hath 
more  feet  (than  four)  (insects,  arachnidans,  myriapods).  In 
verses  9  and  10  of  the  same  chapter  we  have  an  enumeration 
of  the  sheretzim  of  the  waters  :  "  Whatsoever  hath  fins  and 
scales  in  the  waters,  in  the  seas  and  in  the  rivers,  them  shall 
ye  eat.  And  all  that  have  not  fins  and  scales  in  the  seas  and 
the  rivers,  of  all  that  swarm  in  the  waters  (all  the  sheretzim 
of  the  waters),  they  shall  be  an  abomination  unto  you."  Here 
the  general  term  sheretz  includes  all  the  fishes  and  the  inver- 
tebrate animals  of  the  waters.  From  the  whole  of  the  above 
passages  we  learn  that  this  is  a  general  term  for  all  the  inver- 
tebrate animals  and  the  two  lower  classes  of  vertebrates,  or, 
in  other  words,  for  the  whole  animal  kingdom  except  the 
mammalia  and  birds.     To  all  these  creatures  the  name  is 


The  Lower  Animals.  213 

particularly  appropriate,  all  of  them  being  oviparous  or  ovo- 
viviparous,  and  consequently  producing  great  numbers  of 
young  and  multiplying  very  rapidly.  The  only  other  creat- 
ures which  can  be  included  under  the  term  are  the  two  doubt- 
ful species  of  small  mammals  already  mentioned.  Nothing 
can  be  more  fair  and  obvious  than  this  explanation  of  the 
term,  based  both  on  etymology  and  on  the  precise  nomen- 
clature of  the  ceremonial  law.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that 
the  prolific  animals  of  the  fifth  day's  creation  belonged  to  the 
three  Cuvierian  sub-kingdoms  of  the  Radiata,  Articulata,  and 
Mollusca,  and  to  the  classes  of  Fish  and  Reptiles  among  the 
vertebrata. 

2.  One  peculiar  group  oi  sheretziin  is  especially  distinguish- 
ed by  name — the  tLVi7iimm^  or  "great  whales"  of  our  ver- 
sion. It  would  be  amusing,  had  we  time,  to  notice  the  va- 
riety of  conjectures  to  which  this  word  has  given  rise,  and 
the  perplexities  of  commentators  in  reference  to  it.  In  our 
version  and  the  Septuagint  it  is  usually  rendered  dragon ; 
but  in  this  place  the  seventy  have  thought  proper  to  put  Ketos 
(whale),  and  our  translators  have  followed  them.  Subsequent 
translators  and  commentators  have  laid  under  contribution 
all  sorts  of  marine  monsters,  including  the  sea-serpent,  in 
their  endeavors  to  attach  a  precise  meaning  to  the  word ; 
while  others  have  been  content  to  admit  that  it  may  signify 
any  kind  or  all  kinds  of  large  aquatic  animals.  The  greater 
part  of  the  difficulty  appears  to  have  arisen  from  confounding 
two  distinct  words,  tannin  and  tan^  both  names  of  animals ; 
and  the  confusion  has  been  increased  by  the  circumstance 
that  in  two  places  the  words  have  been  interchanged,  proba- 
bly by  errors  of  transcribers.  Tan  occurs  in  twelve  places, 
and  from  these  we  can  gather  that  it  inhabits  ruined  cities, 
deserts,  and  places  to  which  ostriches  resort,  that  it  suckles 


214  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

its  young,  is  of  predaceous  and  shy  habits,  utters  a  wailing 
cry,  and  is  not  of  large  size,  nor  formidable  to  man.  The 
most  probable  conjecture  as  to  the  animal  intended  is  that 
of  Gesenius,  who  supposes  it  to  be  the  jackal.  The  other 
word  {fajinin),  which  is  that  used  in  the  text,  is  applied  as  an 
emblem  of  Egypt  and  its  kings,  and  also  of  the  conquering 
kings  of  Babylon.  It  is  spoken  of  as  furious  when  enraged, 
and  formidable  to  man,  and  is  said  to  be  an  inhabitant  of 
rivers  and  of  the  sea,  but  more  especially  of  the  Nile.  In 
short,  it  is  the  crocodile  of  the  Nile.  We  can  easily  under- 
stand the  perplexity  of  those  writers  who  suppose  these  two 
words  to  be  identical,  and  endeavor  to  combine  all  the  char- 
acters above  mentioned  in  one  animal  or  tribe  of  animals. 
As  a  farther  illustration  of  the  marked  difference  in  the  mean- 
ings of  the  two  words,  we  may  compare  the  34th  and  37th 
verses  of  the  fifty-first  chapter  of  Jeremiah.  In  the  first  of 
these  verses  the  King  of  Babylon  is  represented  as  a  "  dra- 
gon" {tannin),  vihich.  had  swallowed  up  Israel.  In  the  second 
it  is  predicted  that  Babylon  itself  shall  become  heaps,  a  dwell- 
ing-place for  "dragons"  {tanint).  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  animals  intended  here  are  quite  different.  The  de- 
vouring tajinin  is  a  huge  predaceous  river  reptile,  a  fit  em- 
blem of  the  Babylonian  monarch  ;  the  taji  is  the  jackal  that 
will  soon  howl  in  his  ruined  palaces.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
that  philologists  trace  a  connection  between  tannin  and  the 
Greek  iei7io,  Latin  tendo,  and  similar  words,  signifying  to  stretch 
or  extend,  in  the  Sanscrit,  Gothic,  and  other  languages,  lead- 
ing to  the  inference  that  the  Hebrew  w'ord  primarily  denotes 
a  lengthened  or  extended  creature,  which  corresponds  well 
with  its  application  to  the  crocodile.  Taking  all  the  above 
facts  in  connection,  we  are  quite  safe  in  concluding  that  the 
creatures  referred  to  by  the  word  under  consideration  are 


The  Lower  Animals.  215 

literally  large  reptilian  ammals ;  and,  from  the  special  men- 
tion made  of  them,  we  may  infer  that,  in  their  day,  they  were 
the  lords  of  creation.* 

3.  In  verse  21  the  remainder  of  the  ^//^r^/s:/;;/,  besides  the 
larger  reptiles,  are  included  in  the  general  expression,  "  Living 
creature  that  moveth."  The  term  "  living  creature  "  is,  liter- 
ally, "  creature  having  the  breath  of  life  ;"  the  power  of  res- 
piration being  apparently  in  Hebrew  the  distinctive  character 
of  the  animal.  The  word  moveth  {raviash)^  in  its  more  gen- 
eral sense,  expresses  the  power  of  voluntary  motion,  as  ex- 
hibited in  animals  in  general.  In  a  few  places,  however,  it  has 
a  more  precise  meaning,  as  in  i  Kings  iv.,  -^-^^  where  the  ver- 
tebrated  animals  are  included  in  the  four  classes  of  "beasts, 
fowl,  C7'eeping  tilings  (or  reptiles,  remes),  and  fishes."  In  the 
present  connection  it  probably  has  its  most  general  sense ; 
unless,  indeed,  the  apparent  repetition  in  this  verse  relates  to 
the  amphibious  or  semi-terrestrial  creatures  associated  with 
the  great  reptiles ;  and,  in  that  case,  the  humbler  reptilian 
animals  alone  may  be  meant. 

4.  We  may  again  note  that  the  introduction  of  animal  life 
is  marked  by  the  use  of  the  word  "  create,"  for  the  first  time 
since  the  general  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  We 
may  also  note  that  the  animal,  as  well  as  the  plant,  was  cre- 
ated "after  its  kind,"  or  "species  by  species."  The  animals 
are  grouped  under  three  great  classes — the  Remes,  the  Tan- 
ninim,  and  the  Birds;  but, lest  any  misconception  should  arise 
as  to  the  relations  of  species  to  these  groups,  we  are  expressly 
informed  that  the  species  is  here  the  true  unit  of  the  creative 
work.     It  is  worth  while,  therefore,  to  note  that  this  most  an- 

*  It  would  be  unfair  to  suppress  the  farther  probability  that  the  writer 
intends  specially  to  indicate  that  the  sacred  crocodile  of  the  Nile  was  itself 
a  creature  of  Jehovah,  and  among  the  humbler  of  those  creatures. 


2i6  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

cient  authority  on  this  much  controverted  topic  connects  spe- 
cies on  the  one  hand  with  the  creative  fiat,  and  on  the  other 
with  the  power  of  continuous  reproduction. 

5.  In  addition  to  the  great  mass  oi  sheretzi?n,  so  accurately 
characterized  by  Milton  as 

** Reptile  with  spawn  abundant," 


the  creation  of  the  fifth  day  included  a  higher  tribe  of  ovipa- 
rous animals — the  birds,  the  fowl  or  winged  creature  of  the 
text.  Birds  alone,  we  think,  must  be  meant  here,  as  we  have 
already  seen  that  insects  are  included  under  the  general  term 
sheretzim. 

6.  It  is  farther  to  be  observed  that  the  waters  give  origin  to 
the  first  animals — an  interesting  point  when  we  consider  the 
contrast  here  with  the  creation  of  plants  and  of  the  higher 
animals,  both  of  which  proceed  from  the  earth. 

7.  It  can  not  fail  to  be  observed  that  we  have  in  these 
verses  two  different  arrangements  of  the  animals  created, 
neither  corresponding  exactly  with  what  modern  science 
teaches  us  to  regard  as  the  true  grouping  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, according  to  its  affinities.  The  order  in  the  first  enu- 
meration should,  from  the  analogy  of  the  chapter,  indicate 
that*  of  successive  creation.  The  order  of  the  second  list 
may,  perhaps,  be  that  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  ani- 
mals, as  it  appeared  to  the  writer.  Or  there  may  have  been 
a  twofold  division  of  the  period  —  the  earlier  commencing 
with  the  creation  of  the  humbler  invertebrates,  the  later 
characterized  by  the  great  reptiles — which  is  the  actual  state 
of  the  case  as  disclosed  by  geology. 

8.  The  Creator  recognizes  the  introduction  of  sentient  ex- 
istence and  volition  by  blessing  this  new  work  of  his  hands, 
and  inviting  the  swarms  of  the  newly  peopled  world  to  enjoy 


TJie  Loivcr  Animals.  217 

that  happiness  for  which  they  were  fitted,  and  to  increase  and 
fill  the  earth,  inaugurating  thus  a  new  power  destined  to  still 
higher  developments. 

When  we  inquire  what  information  geology  affords  respect- 
ing the  period  under  consideration,  the  answer  may  be  full 
and  explicit.  Geological  discovery  has  carried  us  back  to 
an  epoch  corresponding  with  the  beginning  of  this  day,  and 
has  disclosed  a  long  and  varied  series  of  living  beings,  ex- 
tending from  this  early  period  up  to  the  introduction  of  the 
higher  races  of  animals.  To  enter  on  the  geological  details  of 
these  changes,  and  on  descriptions  of  the  creatures  which  suc- 
ceeded each  other  on  the  earth,  would  swell  this  volume  into  a 
treatise  on  palaeontology,  and  would  be  quite  unnecessary,  as 
so  many  excellent  popular  works  on  this  subject  already  exist. 
I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  to  a  few  general  statements, 
and  to  marking  the  points  in  which  Scripture  and  geology 
coincide  in  their  respective  histories  of  this  long  period, 
which  appears  to  include  the  whole  of  the  Palaeozoic  and 
Mesozoic  epochs  of  geology,  with  their  grand  and  varied 
succession  of  rock  formations  and  living  beings. 

In  the  Primordial  or  oldest  fossiliferous  rocks  next  in  suc- 
cession to  those  great  Eozoic  formations  in  which  protozoa 
alone  have  been  discovered,  we  find  the  remains  of  crusta- 
ceans, mollusks,  and  radiates — such  as  shrimps,  shell-fish,  and 
starfishes — which  appear  to  have  inhabited  the  bottom  of  a 
shallow  ocean.  Among  these  were  some  genera  belonging 
to  the  higher  forms  of  invertebrate  life,  but  apparently  as  yet 
no  vertebrated  animals.  Fishes  were  then  introduced,  and 
have  left  their  remains  in  the  upper  Silurian  rocks,  and  very 
abundantly  in  the  Devonian  and  Carboniferous,  in  the  latter 
of  which  also  the  first  reptiles  occur,  but  are  principally  mem- 
bers of  -that  lower  group  to  which  the  frogs  and  newts  and 

K 


2i8  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

their  allies  belong.  The  animal  kingdom  appears  to  have 
reached  no  higher  than  the  reptiles  in  the  Palaeozoic  or 
primary  period  of  geology,  and  its  reptiles  are  comparatively 
small  and  few  ;  though  fishes  had  attained  to  a  point  of  per- 
fection which  they  have  not  since  exceeded.  There  was 
also,  especially  in  the  Carboniferous  age,  an  abundant  and 
luxuriant  vegetation.  The  Mesozoic  period  is,  however,  em- 
phatically the  age  of  reptiles.  This  class  then  reached  its  cli- 
max, in  the  number,  perfection,  and  magnitude  of  its  species, 
which  filled  all  those  stations  in  the  economy  of  nature  now 
assigned  to  the  mammalia.  Birds  also  belong  to  this  era, 
though  apparently  much  less  numerous  and  important  than  at 
present.  Only  a  few  species  of  small  mammals,  of  the  lowest 
or  marsupial  type,  appear  as  a  presage  of  the  mammalian  crea- 
tion of  the  succeeding  tertiary  era.  In  these  two  geological  pe- 
riods, then — the  Palaeozoic  and  Mesozoic — we  find,  first,  the 
lower  sheretzim  represented  by  the  invertebrata  and  the  fishes, 
then  the  great  reptiles  and  the  birds ;  and  it  can  not  be  de- 
nied that,  if  we  admit  that  the  Mosaic  day  under  consideration 
corresponds  with  these  geological  periods,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible better  to  characterize  their  creations  in  so  few  words 
adapted  to  popular  comprehension.  I  may  add  that  all  the 
species  whose  remains  are  found  in  the  Palaeozoic  and  Meso- 
zoic rocks  are  extinct,  and  known  to  us  only  as  fossils  ;  and 
their  connection  with  the  present  system  of  nature  consists 
only  in  their  forming  with  it  a  more  perfect  series  than  our 
present  fauna  alone  could  afford,  unless,  indeed,  we  should 
find  reason  to  believe  that  any  modern  animals  are  their 
modified  descendants.  They  belong  to  the  same  system  of 
types,  but  are  parts  of  it  which  have  served  their  purpose  and 
have  been  laid  aside.  The  coincidences  above  noted  be- 
tween geology  and  Scripture  may  be  summed  up  as  follows : 


The  Lower  Animals.  219 

1.  According  to  both  records,  the  causes  which  at  present 
regulate  the  distribution  of  light,  heat,  and  moisture,  and  of 
land  and  water,  were,  during  the  whole  of  this  period,  much 
the  same  as  at  present.  The  eyes  of  the  trilobite  of  the  old 
Silurian  rocks  are  fitted  for  the  same  conditions  with  respect 
to  light  with  those  of  existing  animals  of  the  same  class. 
The  coniferous  trees  of  the  coal  measures  show  annual  rings 
of  growth.  Impressions  of  rain-marks  have  been  found  in 
the  shales  of  the  coal  measures  and  Devonian  system.  Hills 
and  valleys,  swamps  and  lagoons,  rivers,  bays,  seas,  coral 
reefs  and  shell  beds,  have  all  left  indubitable  evidence  of 
their  existence  in  the  geological  record.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Bible  affirms  that  all  the  earth's  physical  features  were 
perfected  on  the  fourth  day,  and  immediately  before  the  cre- 
ation of  animals.  The  land  and  the  water  have  undergone 
during  this  long  lapse  of  ages  many  minor  changes.  Whole 
tribes  of  animals  and  plants  have  been  swept  away  and  re- 
placed by  others,  but  the  general  aspect  of  inorganic  nature 
has  remained  the  same. 

2.  Both  records  show  the  existence  of  vegetation  during 
this  period;  though  the  geologic  record,  if  taken  alone, would, 
from  its  want  of  information  respecting  the  third  day,  lead  us 
to  infer  that  plants  are  no  older  than  animals,  while  the  Bible 
does  not  speak  of  the  nature  of  the  vegetation  that  may  have 
existed  on  the  fifth  day. 

3.  Both  records  inform  us  that  reptiles  and  birds  were  the 
higher  and  leading  forms  of  animals,  and  that  all  the  lower 
forms  of  animals  co-existed  with  them.  In  both  we  have  es- 
pecial notice  of  the  gigantic  Saurian  reptiles  of  the  latter 
part  of  the  period ;  and  if  we  have  the  remains  of  a  few  small 
species  of  mammals  in  the  Mesozoic  rocks,  these,  like  a  few 
similar  creatures  apparently  included  under  the  word  sheretz 


220  TJie  Orighi  of  the  World. 

in  Leviticus,  are  not  sufficiently  important  to  negative  the 
general  fact  of  the  reign  of  reptiles.* 

4.  It  accords  with  both  records  that  the  work  of  creation  in 
this  period  was  gradually  progressive.  Species  after  species 
was  locally  introduced,  extended  itself,  and,  after  having 
served  its  purpose,  gradually  became  extinct.  And  thus 
each  successive  rock  formation  presents  new  groups  of  spe- 
cies, each  rising  in  numbers  and  perfection  above  the  last, 
and  marking  a  gradual  assimilation  of  the  general  conditions 
of  our  planet  to  their  present  state,  yet  without  any  convul- 
sions or  general  catastrophes  affecting  the  whole  earth  at 
once. 

5.  In  both  records  the  time  between  the  creation  of  the 
first  animals  and  the  introduction  of  the  mammalia  as  a 
dominant  class  forms  a  well-marked  period.  I  would  not 
too  positively  assert  that  the  close  of  the  fifth  day  accords 
precisely  with  that  of  the  Mesozoic  or  secondary  period. 
The  well-marked  line  of  separation,  however,  in  many  parts 
of  the  world,  between  this  and  the  earlier  tertiary  rocks  suc- 
ceeding to  it,  points  to  this  as  extremely  probable. 

It  thus  appears  that  Scripture  and  geology  so  far  concur 
respecting  the  events  of  this  period  as  to  establish,  even 
without  any  other  evidence,  a  probability  that  the  fifth  day 
corresponds  with  the  geological  ages  with  which  I  have 
endeavored  to  identify  it.      Geology,  however,  gives  us  no 

'  *  The  interesting  discovery,  by  Mr.  Beale  and  others,  of  several  species 
of  mammalia  in  the  Purbeck,  and  that  of  Professor  Emmons  of  a  mam- 
mal in  rocks  of  similar  age  in  the  Southern  States  of  America,  do  not  in- 
validate this  statement ;  for  all  these,  like  the  Alicrolestes  of  the  German 
trias  and  the  Ajuphitherium  of  the  Stonesfeld  slate,  are  small  marsupials 
belonging  to  the  least  perfect  type  of  mammals.  The  discovery  of  so  many 
species  of  these  humbler  creatures,  goes  far  to  increase  the  improbability 
of  the  existence  of  the  higher  mammals. 


The  Loiver  Animals,  221 

means  of  measuring  precisely  the  length  of  this  clay  ;  but  it 
gives  us  the  impression  that  it  occupied  an  enormous  length 
of  time,  compared  with  which  the  whole  human  period  is 
quite  insignificant  \  and  rivalling  those  mythical  "  days  of 
the  Creator  "  which  we  have  noticed  as  forming  a  part  of  the 
Hindoo  mythology. 

Why  was  the  earth  thus  occupied  for  countless  ages  by  an 
animal  population  whose  highest  members  were  reptiles  and 
birds  ?  The  fact  can  not  be  doubted,  since  geology  and 
Scripture,  the  research  of  man  and  the  Word  of  God,  concur 
in  affirming  it.  We  know  that  the  lowest  of  these  creatures 
was,  in  its  own  place,  no  less  worthy  of  the  Creator  than 
those  which  we  regard  as  the  highest  in  the  scale  of  organi- 
zation, and  that  the  animals  of  the  ancient,  equally  with  those 
of  the  modern  world,  abounded  in  proofs  of  the  wisdom,  pow- 
er, and  goodness  of  their  Maker.  Comparative  anatomy  has 
shown  that  these  extinct  animals,  though  often  varying  much 
from  their  modern  representatives,  are  in  no  respect  rude  or 
imperfect ;  that  they  have  the  same  appearance  of  careful 
planning  and  elaborate  execution,  the  same  combination  of 
ornament  and  utility,  the  same  nice  adaptation  to  the  condi- 
tions of  their  existence,  which  we  observe  in  modern  creat- 
ures. In  addition  to  this,  the  many  new  and  wonderful  con- 
trivances and  combinations  which  they  present,  and  their  re- 
lations to  existing  objects,  have  greatly  enlarged  our  views 
of  the  variety  and  harmony  of  the  whole  system  of  nature. 
They  are,  therefore,  in  these  respects,  not  without  their  use 
as  manifestations  of  the  Creator,  in  this  our  later  age. 

There  is  another  reason,  hinted  at  by  Buckland,  Miller, 
and  other  writers  on  this  subject,  which  weighs  much  with 
my  mind.  All  animals  and  plants  are  constructed  on  a  few 
leading  types  or  patterns,  which  are  again  divided  into  sub- 


222  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

ordinate  types,  just  as  in  architecture  we  have  certain  lead- 
ing styles,  and  these  again  may  admit  of  several  orders,  and 
these  of  farther  modifications.  Types  are  farther  modified  to 
suit  a  great  variety  of  minor  adaptations.  Now  we  know  that 
the  earth  is,  at  any  one  time,  inadequate  to  display  all  the 
modifications  of  all  the  types.  Hence  our  existing  system 
of  organic  nature,  though  probably  more  complete  than  any 
that  preceded  it,  is  still  only  fragmentary.  It  is  like  what 
architecture  would  be,  if  all  memorials  of  all  buildings  more 
than  a  century  old  were  swept  away.  But,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  the  creative  work,  there  has  been,  or  will 
be,  room  for  the  whole  plan.  Hence  fossils  are  little  by  lit- 
tle completing  our  system  of  nature  ;  and,  if  all  were  known, 
would  perhaps  wholly  do  so.  The  great  plan  must  be  pro- 
gressive, and  all  its  parts  must  be  perishable,  except  its  last 
culminating-point  and  archetype,  man.  Tennyson  expresses 
this  truth  in  the  following  lines : 

"The  wish  that  of  the  living  whole 

No  life  may  fail  beyond  the  grave ; 
Derives  it  not  from  what  we  have 
The  likest  God  within  the  soul  ,-* 

Are  God  and  Nature  then  at  strife, 

That  Nature  lends  such  evil  dreams  ? 
So  careful  of  the  type  she  seems, 

So  careless  of  the  single  life. 

*  So  careful  of  the  type  ?'  but  no. 

From  scarped  cliff  and  quarried  stone 
She  cries,  '  a  thousand  types  are  gone  ; 

I  care  for  nothing,  all  shall  go. 

'  Thou  makest  thine  appeal  to  me  : 
I  bring  to  life,  I  bring  to  death  : 
The  spirit  does  but  mean  the  breath: 

I  know  no  more.'     And  he,  shall  he, 


The  Loiuer  Animals.  223 

Man,  her  last  work,  who  seem'd  so  fair, 
Such  splendid  purpose  in  his  eyes, 
Who  roll'd  the  psalm  to  wintry  skies. 

Who  built  him  fanes  of  fruitless  prayer, 

Who  trusted  God  was  love  indeed, 
And  love  Creation's  final  law — 
Tho'  Nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw. 

With  ravine,  shriek'd  against  his  creed — 

Who  loved,  who  suffer'd  countless  ills. 
Who  battled  for  the  True,  the  Just, 
Be  blown  about  the  desert  dust, 

Or  seal'd  within  the  iron  hills  ? 

No  more  ?     A  monster,  then,  a  dream, 
A  discord.     Dragons  of  the  prime, 
That  tare  each  other  in  their  slime. 

Were  mellow  music  match'd  with  him. 

O  life  as  futile,  then,  as  frail ! 

O  for  thy  voice  to  soothe  and  bless! 

What  hope  of  answer,  or  redress? 
Behind  the  veil,  behind  the  veil." 

The  farther  explanation  given  by  evolutionists  that  those 
ancient  forms  of  life  may  be  the  actual  ancestors  of  the  pres- 
ent animals,  and  that  through  all  the  ages  the  Creator  was 
gradually  perfecting  his  work  by  a  series  of  descents  with 
modification,  was  probably  not  before  the  mind  of  our  ancient 
Hebrew  authority,  nor  need  we  attach  much  value  to  it  till 
some  proof  of  the  process  has  been  obtained  from  Nature. 
A  farther  reason,  however,  which  was  intelligible  to  the  author 
of  Genesis,  and  which  is  fondly  dwelt  on  in  succeeding  books 
of  the  Bible,  depends  on  the  idea  that  the  Creator  himself  is 
not  indifferent  to  the  marvellous  structures,  instincts,  and  pow- 
ers which  he  has  bestowed  upon  the  lower  races  of  animals. 


224  1^^^^  Origin  of  the   World. 

Witness  the  answer  of  the  Almighty  to  Job,  when  he  spake 
out  of  the  whirlwind  to  vindicate  his  own  plans  in  creation 
and  providence ;  and  brought  before  the  patriarch  a  long  train 
of  animals,  explaining  and  dwelling  on  the  structure  and  pow- 
ers of  each,  in  contrast  with  the  puny  efforts  and  rude  artificial 
contrivances  of  man.  Witness  also  the  preservation,  in  the 
rocks,  of  the  fossil  remains  of  extinct  creatures,  as  if  he  who 
made  them  was  unwilling  that  the  evidence  of  their  existence 
should  perish,  and  purposely  treasured  them  through  all  the 
revolutions  of  the  earth,  that  through  them  men  might  mag- 
nify his  name.  The  Psalmist  would  almost  appear  to  have 
had  all  these  thoughts  before  his  mind  when  he  poured  out 
his  wonder  in  the  104th  Psalm: 

"  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works ! 
In  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all. 
The  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches ; 
So  is  this  wide  and  great  sea, 
Wherein  are  moving  things  innumerable, 
Creatures  both  small  and  great. 
There  go  the  ships  [or  "  floating  animals "] ; 
There  is  leviathan,  which  thou  hast  formed  to  sport  therein : 
That  thou  givest  them  they  gather. 
Thou  openest  thy  hand,  they  are  filled  with  good ; 
Thou  hidest  thy  face,  they  are  troubled; 
Thou  takest  away  their  breath,  they  return  to  their  dust. 
Thou  sendest  forth  thy  spirit,  they  are  created, 
And  thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  earth." 

There  are,  however,  good  reasons  to  believe  that,  in  the 
plans  of  divine  wisdom,  the  long  periods  in  which  the  earth 
was  occupied  by  the  inferior  races  were  necessary  to  its  sub- 
sequent adaptation  to  the  residence  of  man.  In  these  periods 
our  present  continents  gradually  grew  up  in  all  their  variety 
and  beauty.    The  materials  of  old  rocks  were  comminuted  and 


The  Lozver  Animals.  225 

mixed  to  form  fertile  soils,*  and  stores  of  mineral  products 
were  accumulated  to  enable  man  to  earn  his  subsistence  and 
the  blessings  of  civilization  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  If  it 
pleased  the  Almighty  during  these  preparatory  stages  to  re- 
plenish the  land  and  sea  with  living  things  full  of  life  and 
beauty  and  happiness,  who  shall  venture  to  criticise  his  pro- 
cedure, or  to  say  to  Him,  "  What  doest  thou  ?" 

It  would  be  decidedly  wrong,  in  the  present  state  of  that 
which  is  popularly  called  science,  to  omit  to  inquire  here  what 
relation  to  the  work  of  the  fifth  creative  day  those  theories  of 
development  and  evolution  which  have  obtained  so  great  cur- 
rency may  bear.  The  long  time  employed  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  lower  animals,  the  use  of  the  terms  "make"  and 
"  form,"  instead  of  "  create,"  and  the  expression  "  let  the  wa- 
ters bring  forth,"  may  well  be  understood  as  countenancing 
some  form  of  mediate  creation,  or  of  "  creation  by  law,"  or 
"  theistic  evolution,"  as  it  has  been  termed ;  but  they  give 
no  countenance  to  the  idea  either  of  the  spontaneous  evolu- 
tion of  living  beings  under  the  influence  of  merely  physical 
causes  and  without  creative  intervention,  or  of  the  transmuta- 
tion of  one  kind  of  animal  into  another.  Still,  with  reference 
to  this  last  idea,  it  is  plain  that  revelation  gives  us  no  defini- 
tion of  species  as  distinguished  from  varieties  or  races,  so 
that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  supposition  that,  within 
certain  limits  indicated  by  the  expression  "after  its  kind," 
animals  or  plants  may  have  been  so  constituted  as  to  vary 
greatly  in  the  progress  of  geological  time. 

If  we  ask  whether  any  thing  is  known  to  science  which  can 

*  It  is  very  interesting,  in  connection  with  this,  to  note  that  nearly  all 
the  earliest  and  greatest  seats  of  population  and  civilization  have  been 
placed  on  the  more  modern  geological  deposits,  or  on  those  in  which  stores 
of  fuel  have  been  accumulated  by  the  growth  of  extinct  plants. 

K  2 


226  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

give  even  a  decided  probability  to  the  notion  that  living  be- 
ings are  parts  of  an  undirected  evolution  proceeding  under 
merely  dead  insentient  forces,  and  without  intention,  the  an- 
swer must  be  emphatically  no. 

I  have  elsewhere  fully  discussed  these  questions,  and  may 
here  make  some  general  statements  as  to  certain  scientific 
facts  which  at  present  bar  the  way  against  the  hypothesis  of 
evolution  as  applied  to  life,  and  especially  against  that  form 
of  it  to  which  Darwin  and  his  disciples  have  given  so  great 
prominence. 

1.  The  albuminous  or  protoplasmic  material,  which  seems 
to  be  necessary  to  the  existence  of  every  living  being,  is  known 
to  us  as  a  product  only  of  the  action  of  previously  living  pro- 
toplasm. Though  it  is  often  stated  that  the  production  of 
albumen  from  its  elements  is  a  process  not  differing  from  the 
formation  of  water  or  any  other  inorganic  material  from  its 
elements,  this  statement  is  false  in  fact,  since,  though  many 
so-called  organic  substances  have  been  produced  by  chemical 
processes,  no  particle  of  either  living  or  non-living  organiz- 
able  matter  of  the  nature  of  protoplasm  has  ever  been  so  pro- 
duced. The  origin,  therefore,  of  this  albuminous  matter  is 
as  much  a  mystery  to  us  at  present  as  that  of  any  of  the 
chemical  elements. 

2.  Though  some  animals  and  plants  are  very  simple  in 
their  visible  structure,  they  all  present  vital  properties  not  to 
be  found  in  dead  albuminous  matter,  and  no  mode  is  known 
whereby  the  properties  of  life  can  be  communicated  to  dead 
matter.  All  the  experiments  hitherto  made,  and  very  emi- 
nently those  recently  performed  by  Pasteur,  Tyndall,  and  Dal- 
linger,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  even  the  simplest  living 
beings  can  be  produced  only  from  germs  originating  in  pre- 
viously living  organisms  of  similar  structure.     The  simplest 


TJie  Lower  Animals.  227 

living  organisms  are  thus  to  science  ultimate  facts,  for  which 
it  can  not  account  except  conjecturally. 

3.  No  case  is  certainly  known  in  human  experience  where 
any  species  of  animal  or  plant  has  been  so  changed  as  to  as- 
sume all  the  characters  of  a  new  species.  Species  are  thus 
practically  to  science  unchangeable  units,  the  origin  of  which 
we  have  as  yet  no  means  of  tracing. 

4.  Though  the  general  history  of  animal  life  in  time  bears 
a  certain  resemblance  to  the  development  of  the  individual 
animal  from  the  embrvo,  there  is  no  reason  whatever  to  be- 
lieve  that  this  is  more  than  a  mere  relation  of  analogy,  arising 
from  the  fact  that  in  both  cases  the  law  of  procedure  is  to 
pass  from  the  simpler  forms  to  the  more  complex,  and  from 
the  more  generalized  to  the  more  specialized.  The  external 
conditions  and  details  of  the  two  kinds  of  series  are  altogether 
different,  and  become  more  so  the  more  they  are  investigated. 
This  shows  that  the  causes  can  not  have  been  similar. 

5.  In  tracing  back  animals  and  groups  of  animals  in  geo- 
logical time,  we  find  that  they  always  end  without  any  link 
of  connection  wdth  previous  beings,  and  in  circumstances  which 
render  any  such  connections  improbable.  In  the  work  of  our 
next  creative  day,  the  series  of  animals  preceding  the  modern 
horse  has  been  cited  as  a  good  instance  of  probable  evolu- 
tion ;  but  not  only  are  the  members  of  the  series  so  widely 
separated  in  space  and  time  that  no  connection  can  be  traced, 
but  the  earliest  of  them,  the  Orohippiis,  would  require,  on  the 
theory,  to  have  been  preceded  by  a  previous  series  extending 
so  far  back  that  it  is  impossible,  under  any  supposition  of  the 
imperfection  of  our  present  knowledge,  to  consider  such  ex- 
tension probable.  The  same  difficulty  applies  to  every  case 
of  tracing  back  any  specific  form  either  of  animal  or  plant. 
This  general  result  proves,  as  I  have  elsewhere  attempted  to 


228  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

show,*  that  the  introduction  of  the  various  animal  types  must 
have  been  abrupt,  and  under  some  influence  quite  different 
from  that  of  evolution. 

These  are  what  I  would  term  the  five  fatal  objections  to 
evolution  as  at  present  held,  as  a  means  of  accounting  for  the 
introduction  and  succession  of  animals.  To  what  extent  they 
may  be  weakened  or  strengthened  by  the  future  progress  of 
science  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  so  long  as  they  exist  it  is 
mere  folly  and  presumption  to  affirm  that  modern  science  sup- 
ports the  doctrine  of  evolution.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  the  Bible  leaves  us  perfectly  free  to  inquire  as  to 
the  plan  and  method  of  the  Creator,  and  that,  whatever  dis- 
coveries we  may  make,  we  shall  find  that  his  plans  are  order- 
ly, methodical,  and  continuous,  and  not  of  the  nature  of  an 
arbitrary  patchwork. 

Though  science  as  yet  gives  us  no  certain  laws  for  the  in- 
troduction of  new  specific  types,  it  indicates  certain  possible 
modes  of  the  origination  of  varieties,  races,  and  sub-species 
of  previously  existing  types.  One  of  these  is  that  struggle  for 
existence  against  adverse  external  conditions,  which,  however, 
has  been  harped  upon  too  exclusively  by  the  Darwinian  school, 
and  which  will  give  chiefly  depauperated  and  degraded  forms. 
Another  is  that  expansion  under  exceptionally  favorable  con- 
ditions which  arises  where  species  are  admitted  to  wider  new 
areas  of  geographical  range  and  more  abundant  and  varied 
means  of  sustenance.  Land  animals  and  plants  must  have 
experienced  this  in  times  of  continental  elevation  ;  marine 
animals  and  plants  in  times  of  continental  depression.  An- 
other is  the  tendency  to  what  has  been  called  reproductive 
retardation  and  acceleration  which  species  undergo  under 

*  See  Appendix. 


The  Lower  Animals.  229 

conditions  exceptionally  unfavorable  or  favorable,  and  which 
in  some  modern  aquatic  animals  produces  differences  so  great 
that  members  of  the  same  species  have  sometimes  been  placed 
in  different  genera.  Lastly,  it  is  conceivable  that  species  may 
have  been  so  constructed  that  after  a  certain  number  of  s:en- 
erations  they  may  spontaneously  undergo  either  abrupt  or 
gradual  changes,  similar  to  those  which  the  individual  under- 
goes at  certain  stages  of  growth.  This  last  furnishes  the  only 
true  analogy  possible  between  embryology  and  geological  suc- 
cession. 

While,  however,  science  is  silent  as  to  the  production  of 
new  specific  types,  and  only  gives  us  indications  as  to  the 
origin  of  varieties  and  races,  it  is  curious  that  the  Bible  sug- 
gests three  methods  in  which  new  organisms  may  be,  and  ac- 
cording to  it  have  been  introduced  by  the  Creator.  The  first 
is  that  of  immediate  and  direct  creation,  as  when  God  created 
the  great  Tanninim.  The  second  is  that  of  mediate  creation, 
through  the  materials  previously  existing,  as  when  he  said, 
"Let  the  land  bring  forth  plants,"  or  "Let  the  waters  bring 
forth  animals."  The  third  is  that  of  production  from  a  pre- 
vious organism  by  power  other  than  that  of  ordinary  repro- 
duction, as  in  the  origination  of  Eve  from  Adam,  and  the  mi- 
raculous conception  of  Jesus.  These  are  the  only  points  in 
which  its  teachings  approach  the  limits  of  speculations  as  to 
evolution,  and  they  certainly  leave  scope  enough  for  the  le- 
gitimate inquiries  of  science.* 

*  See  Appendix  for  farther  discussion  of  this  subject. 


230  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  HIGHER  ANIMALS  AND  MAN. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  land  bring  forth  animals  after  their  kinds ;  the 
herbivora,  the  reptiles,  and  the  carnivora,  after  their  kinds ;  and  it  was  so. 
And  God  made  carnivorous  mammals  after  their  kinds,  and  herbivorous 
mammals  after  their  kinds,  and  every  reptile  of  the  land  after  its  kind  ; 
and  God  saw  that  it  was  good, 

"And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  own  image,  after  our  likeness  ; 
and  let  them  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  the  birds  of  the  air,  and 
over  the  herbivora  and  over  all  the  land.  So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him  ;  male  and  female 
created  he  them.  And  God  blessed  them  ;  and  God  said.  Be  fruitful  and 
multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it ;  and  have  dominion 
over  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every 
living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth. 

"  And  God  said.  Behold,  I  have  given  you  every  herb  bearing  seed 
which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and  every  tree  in  which  is  the 
fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed  ;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  food,  and  to  every 
beast  of  the  earth  and  to  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth  wherein  there  is  life,  I  have  given  every  green 
herb  for  meat ;  and  it  was  so.  And  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had  made, 
and,  behold,  it  was  very  good.  And  evening  and  morning  were  the  sixth 
day." — Genesis  i.,  24-31. 

The  creation  of  animals,  unlike  that  of  plants,  occupies 
two  days.  Here  our  attention  is  restricted  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  /a?id,  and  chiefly  to  their  higher  forms.  Several  new 
names  are  introduced  to  our  notice,  which  I  have  endeavored 
to  translate  as  literally  as  possible  by  introducing  zoological 
terms  where  those  in  common  use  were  deficient. 


The  Higher  Animals  and  Alan,  231 

1.  The  first  tribe  of  animals  noticed  here  is  named 
Bhemah,  "cattle"  in  our  version;  and  in  the  Septuagint 
"quadrupeds"  in  one  of  the  verses,  and  "cattle"  in  the 
other.  Both  of  these  senses  are  of  common  occurrence  in 
the  Scriptures,  cattle  or  domesticated  animals  being  usually 
designated  by  this  word ;  while  in  other  passages,  as  in 
I  Kings  iv.,  33,  where  Solomon  is  said  to  have  written  a 
treatise  on  ''^beasts,  fowls,  creeping  things,  and  fishes,"  it 
appears  to  include  all  the  mammalia.  Notwithstanding  this 
wide  range  of  meaning,  however,  there  are  passages,  and 
these  of  the  greatest  authority  in  reference  to  our  present 
subject,  in  which  it  strictly  means  the  herbivorous  mammals, 
and  which  show  that  when  it  was  necessary  to  distinguish 
these  from  the  predaceous  or  carnivorous  tribes  this  term 
was  specially  employed.  In  Leviticus  xi,,  22-27,  ^^'^  have  a 
specification  of  all  the  Bhemoth  that  might  and  might  not  be 
used  for  food.  It  includes  all  the  true  ruminants,  with  the 
coney,  the  hare,  and  the  hog,  animals  of  the  rodent  and  pachy- 
dermatous orders.  The  carnivorous  quadrupeds  are  desig- 
nated by  a  different  generic  term.  In  this  chapter  of  Leviti- 
cus, therefore,  which  contains  the  only  approach  to  a  system 
in  natural  history  to  be  found  in  the  Bible,  bhemah  is  strictly 
a  synonym  of  herbivora,  including  especially  ungulates  and 
rodents.  That  this  is  its  proper  meaning  here  is  confirmed 
by  the  considerations  that  in  this  place  it  can  denote  but  a 
part  of  the  land  quadrupeds,  and  that  the  idea  of  cattle  or 
domesticated  animals  would  be  an  anachronism.  At  the 
same  time  there  need  be  no  objection  to  the  view  that  the 
especial  capacity  of  ruminants  and  other  herbivora  for  domes- 
tication is  connected  with  the  use  of  the  word  in  this  place. 

2.  The  word  remes^  "creeping  things  "  in  our  version,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  is  a  very  general  term,  referring  to  the 


232  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

power  of  motion  possessed  by  animals,  especially  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground.  It  here  in  all  probability  refers  to  the 
additional  types  of  terrestrial,  reptiles,  and  other  creatures 
lower  than  the  mammals,  introduced  in  this  period. 

3.  The  compound  term  {haf  th-eretz)  which  I  have  vent- 
ured to  render  "carnivora,"  is  literally  animal  of  the  land;  but 
though  thus  general  in  its  meaning,  it  is  here  evidently  in- 
tended to  denote  a  particular  tribe  of  animals  inhabiting  the 
land,  and  not  included  in  the  scope  of  the  two  words  already 
noticed.  In  other  parts  of  Scripture  this  term  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  a  "  wild  beast."  In  a  few  places,  like  the  other  terms 
already  noticed,  it  is  used  of  all  kinds  of  animals,  but  that 
above  stated  is  its  general  meaning,  and  perfectly  accords 
with  the  requirements  of  the  passage. 

The  creation  of  the  sixth  day  therefore  includes — ist,  the 
herbivorous  mammalia;  2d,  a  variety  of  terrestrial  reptilia, 
and  other  lower  forms  not  included  in  the  work  of  the  pre- 
vious day;  3d,  the  carnivorous  mammalia.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  order  in  the  two  verses  is  different.  In  verse 
24th  it  is  herbivora,  "creeping  things,"  and  carnivora.  In 
verse  25th  it  is  carnivora,  herbivora,  and  "creeping  things." 
One  of  these  may,  as  in  the  account  of  the  fifth  day,  indicate 
the  order  oi  time  in  the  creation,  and  the  other  the  order  of 
rafik  in  the  animals  made,  or  there  may  have  been  two  divis- 
ions of  the  work,  in  the  earlier  of  which  herbivorous  animals 
took  the  lead,  and  in  the  later  those  that  are  carnivorous. 
In  either  case  we  may  infer  that  the  herbivora  predominated 
in  the  earlier  creations  of  the  period. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  this  period  corresponds 
with  the  Tertiary  or  Cainozoic  era  of  geologists.  The  coin- 
cidences are  very  marked  and  striking.  As  already  stated, 
though  in  the  later  secondary  period  there  were  great  facili- 


The  Higher  Animals  and  Man.  233 

ties  for  the  preservation  of  mammals  in  the  strata  then  being 
deposited,  only  a  few  small  species  of  the  humblest  order 
have  been  found ;  and  the  occurrence  of  the  higher  orders  of 
this  class  is  to  some  extent  precluded  by  the  fact  that  the 
place  in  nature  now  occupied  by  the  mammals  was  then  pro- 
vided for  by  the  vast  development  of  the  reptile  tribes.  At 
the  very  beginning  of  the  tertiary  period  all  this  was  changed ; 
most  of  the  gigantic  reptiles  had  disappeared,  and  terrestrial 
mammals  of  large  size  and  high  organization  had  taken  their 
place.  Perhaps  no  geological  change  is  more  striking  and 
remarkable  than  the  sudden  disappearance  of  the  reptilian 
fauna  at  the  close  of  the  mesozoic,  and  the  equally  abrupt 
appearance  of  numerous  species  of  large  mammals,  and  this 
not  in  one  region  onl}^,  but  over  both  the  great  continents, 
and  not  only  where  a  sudden  break  occurs  in  the  series  of 
formations,  but  also  where,  as  in  Western  America,  they  pass 
gradually  into  each  other.  During  the  whole  tertiary  period 
this  predominance  of  the  mammalia  continued;  and  as  the 
mesozoic  was  the  period  of  giant  reptiles,  so  the  tertiary  was 
that  of  great  mammals.  It  is  a  singular  and  perhaps  not  ac- 
cidental coincidence  that  so  many  of  the  early  tertiary  mam- 
mals known  to  us  are  large  herbivora,  such  as  would  be  in- 
cluded in  the  Hebrew  word  hhemah;  and  that  in  the  book  of 
Job  the  hippopotamus  is  called  hehemoih,  the  plural  form  be- 
ing apparently  used  to  denote  that  this  animal  is  the  chief  of 
the  creatures  known  under  the  general  term  hhemah,  while  ge- 
ology informs  us  that  the  prevailing  order  of  mammals  in  the 
older  tertiary  period  was  that  of  the  ungulates,  and  that  many 
of  the  extinct  creatures  of  this  group  are  very  closely  allied 
to  the  hippopotamus.  Behemoth  thus  figures  in  the  book  of 
Job,  not  only  as  at  the  time  a  marked  illustration  of  creative 
power,  but  to  our  farther  knowledge  also  as  a  singular  rem- 


234  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

nant  of  an  extinct  gigantic  race.  It  is  at  least  curious  that 
while  in  the  fifth  day  great  reptiles  like  those  of  the  secondary 
rocks  form  the  burden  of  the  work,  in  the  sixth  we  have  a 
term  which  so  directly  reminds  us  of  those  gigantic  pachy- 
derms which  figure  so  largely  in  the  tertiary  period.  Large 
carnivora  also  occur  in  the  tertiary  formations,  and  there  are 
some  forms  of  reptile  life,  as,  for  example,  the  serpents,  w^hich 
first  appear  in  the  tertiary. 

I  may  refer  to  any  popular  text-book  of  geology  in  evidence 
of  the  exact  conformity  of  this  to  the  progress  of  mammalian 
life,  as  we  now  know  it  in  detail  from  the  study  of  the  suc- 
cessive tertiary  deposits.  The  following  short  summary  from 
Dana,  though  written  several  years  ago,  still  expresses  the 
main  features  of  the  case  : 

"  The  quadrupeds  did  not  all  come  forth  together.  Large 
and  powerful  herbivorous  species  first  take  possession  of  the 
earth,  with  only  a  few  small  carnivora.  These  pass  away. 
Other  herbivora  with  a  larger  proportion  of  carnivora  next 
appear.  These  also  are  exterminated ;  and  so  with  others. 
Then  the  carnivora  appear  in  vast  numbers  and  power,  and 
the  herbivora  also  abound.  Moreover  these  races  attain  a 
magnitude  and  number  far  surpassing  all  that  now  exist,  as 
much  so  indeed,  on  all  the  continents.  North  and  South 
America,  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Australia,  as  the  old  mas- 
todon, twenty  feet  long  and  nine  feet  high,  exceeds  the  mod- 
ern buffalo.  Such,  according  to  geology,  was  the  age  of 
mammals,  when  the  brute  species  existed  in  their  greatest 
magnificence,  and  brutal  ferocity  had  free  play;  when  the 
dens  of  bears  and  hyenas,  prowling  tigers  and  lions  far  larger 
than  any  now  existing,  covered  Britain  and  Europe.  Mam- 
moths and  mastodons  wandered  over  the  plains  of  North 
America,  huge  sloth -like  Megatheria  passed  their  sluggish 


TJie  Higher  Atiinials  and  Man.  235 

lives  on  the  pampas  of  South  America,  and  elephantine  mar- 
supials strolled  about  Australia. 

"  As  the  mammalian  age  draws  to  a  close,  the  ancient  car- 
nivora  and  herbivora  of  that  era  all  pass  away,  excepting,  it 
is  believed,  a  few  that  are  useful  to  man.  New  creations  of 
smaller  size  peopled  the  groves;  the  vegetation  received  ac- 
cessions to  its  foliage,  fruit-trees  and  flowers,  and  the  seas 
brighter  forms  of  water  life.  This  we  know  from  compari- 
sons with  the  fossils  of  the  preceding  mammalian  age.  There 
was  at  this  time  no  chaotic  upturning,  but  only  the  opening 
of  creation  to  its  fullest  expansion ;  and  so  in  Genesis  no 
new  day  is  begun,  it  is  still  the  sixth  day^ 

The  creation  of  man  is  prefaced  by  expressions  implying 
deliberation  and  care.  It  is  not  said,  "  Let  the  earth  bring 
forth"  man,  but  let  us  form  or  fashion  man.  This  marks  the 
relative  importance  of  the  human  species,  and  the  heavenly 
origin  of  its  nobler  immaterial  part.  Man  is  also  said  to 
have  been  "created,"  implying  that  in  his  constitution  there 
was  something  new  and  not  included  in  previous  parts  of  the 
work,  even  in  its  material.  Man  was  created,  as  the  Hebrew 
literally  reads,  the  shadow  and  similitude  of  God — the  greatest 
of  the  visible  manifestations  of  Deity  in  the  lower  world — the 
reflected  image  of  his  Maker,  and,  under  the  Supreme  Law- 
giver, the  delegated  ruler  of  the  earth.  Now  for  the  first  time 
was  the  earth  tenanted  by  a  being  capable  of  comprehending 
the  purposes  and  plans  of  Jehovah,  of  regarding  his  works 
with  intelligent  admiration,  and  of  shadowing  forth  the  excel- 
lences of  his  moral  nature.  For  countless  ages  the  earth  had 
been  inhabited  by  creatures  wonderful  in  their  structures  and 
instincts,  and  mutely  testifying,  as  their  buried  remains  still 
do,  to  the  Creator's  glory;  but  limited  within  a  narrow  range 
of  animal  propensities,  and  having  no  power  of  raising  a 


236  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

thought  or  asph"ation  toward  the  Being  who  made  them. 
Now,  however,  man  enters  on  the  scene,  and  the  sons  of 
God,  who  had  shouted  for  joy  when  the  first  land  emerged 
from  the  bosom  of  the  deep,  saw  the  wondrous  spectacle  of  a 
spiritual  nature  analogous  to  their  own,  united  to  a  corporeal 
frame  constructed  on  the  same  general  type  with  the  higher 
of  those  irrational  creatures  whose  presence  on  earth  they 
had  so  Ions:  witnessed. 

Man  was  to  rule  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  birds  of  the 
air,  and  the  hhemah  or  herbivorous  animals.  The  carnivo- 
rous creatures  are  not  mentioned,  and  possibly  were  not  in- 
cluded in  man's  dominion.  We  shall  find  an  explanation  of 
this  farther  on.  The  nature  of  man's  dominion  we  are  left 
to  infer.  In  his  state  of  innocence  it  must  have  been  a  mild 
and  gentle  sway,  interfering  in  no  respect  with  the  free  exer- 
cise of  the  powers  of  enjoyment  bestowed  on  animals  by  the 
Creator,  a  rule  akin  to  that  which  a  merciful  man  exercises 
over  a  domesticated  animal,  and  which  some  animals  are 
capable  of  repaying  with  a  warm  and  devoted  affection. 
Now,  however,  man's  rule  has  become  a  tyranny.  "  The 
whole  creation  groans  "  because  of  it.  He  desolates  the  face 
of  nature  wherever  he  appears,  unsettling  the  nice  balance  of 
natural  agencies,  and  introducing  remediless  confusion  and 
suffering  among  the  lower  creatures,  even  when  in  the  might 
of  his  boasted  civilization  he  professes  to  renovate  and  im- 
prove the  face  of  nature.  He  retains  enough  of  the  image 
of  his  Maker  to  enable  him  to  a  great  extent  to  assert  his 
dominion,  and  to  aspire  after  a  restoration  of  his  original 
paradise,  but  he  has  lost  so  much  that  the  power  which  he 
retains  is  necessarily  abused  to  selfish  ends. 

Man,  like  the  other  creatures,  was  destined  to.be  fruitful 
and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth.     We  are  also  informed 


The  HigJicr  Animals  and  Man.  237 

in  chapter  second  that  he  was  placed  in  a  "  garden,"  a  chosen 
spot  in  the  alluvial  plains  of  Western  Asia,  belonging  to  the 
later  geological  formations,  and  thus  prepared  by  the  whole 
series  of  prior  geological  changes,  replenished  with  all  things 
useful  to  him,  and  containing  nothing  hurtful,  at  least  in  so 
far  as  the  animal  creation  was  concerned.  These  facts, 
taken  in  connection,  lead  to  grave  questions.  How  is  the 
happy  and  innocent  state  of  man  consistent  with  the  con- 
temporaneous existence  of  carnivorous  and  predaceous  ani- 
mals, which,  as  both  Scripture  and  geology  state,  were  created 
in  abundance  in  the  sixth  day?  How,  when  confined  to  a 
limited  region,  could  he  increase  and  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth  1  These  questions,  which  have  caused  no  little 
perplexity,  are  easily  solved  when  brought  into  the  light  of 
our  modern  knowledge  of  nature,  i.  Every  large  region  of 
the  earth  is  inhabited  by  a  group  of  animals  differing  in  the 
proportions  of  identical  species,  and  in  the  presence  of  distinct 
species,  from  the  groups  inhabiting  other  districts.  There  is 
also  sufficient  reason  to  conclude  that  all  animals  and  plants 
have  spread  from  certain  local  centres  of  creation,  in  which 
certain  groups  of  species  have  been  produced  and  allowed 
to  extend  themselves,  until  they  met  and  became  inter- 
mingled with  species  extending  from  other  centres.  Now 
the  district  of  Asia,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris,  to  which  the  Scripture  assigns  the  origin  of  the  hu- 
man race,  is  the  centre  to  which  we  can  with  the  greatest 
probability  trace  several  of  the  species  of  animals  and  plants 
most  useful  to  man,  and  it  lies  near  the  confines  of  warmer 
and  colder  regions  of  distribution  in  the  Old  World,  and  also 
near  the  boundary  of  the  Asiatic  and  European  regions.  At 
the  period  under  consideration  it  may  have  been  peojDled 
with  a  group  of  animals  specially  suited  to  association  with 


238  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  progenitors  of  mankind.  2.  To  remove  all  zoological 
difficulties  from  the  position  of  primeval  man  in  his  state  of 
innocence,  we  have  but  to  suppose,  in  accordance  with  all 
the  probabilities  of  the  case,  that  man  was  created  along  with 
a  group  of  creatures  adapted  to  contribute  to  his  happiness, 
and  having  no  tendency  to  injure  or  annoy;  and  that  it  is 
the  formation  of  these  creatures — the  group  of  his  own  cen- 
tre of  creation — that  is  especially  noticed  in  Genesis  ii.,  19, 
et  seq.,  where  God  is  represented  as  forming  them  out  of  the 
ground  and  exhibiting  them  to  Adam ;  a  i^assage  otherwise 
superfluous,  and  indeed  tending  to  confuse  the  meaning  of 
the  document.  3.  The  difficulty  attending  the  early  exten- 
sion of  the  human  race  is  at  once  obviated  by  the  geolog- 
ical doctrine  of  the  extinction  of  species.  We  know  that  in 
past  geological  periods  large  and  important  groups  of  spe- 
cies have  become  extinct,  and  have  been  replaced  by  new 
groups  extending  from  new  centres  j  and  we  know  that 
this  process  has  removed,  in  early  geological  periods,  many 
creatures  that  would  have  been  highly  injurious  to  human 
interests  had  they  remained.  Now  the  group  of  species 
created  with  man  being  the  latest  introduced,  we  may  infer, 
on  geological  grounds,  that  it  would  have  extended  itself 
within  the  spheres  of  older  zoological  and  botanical  districts, 
and  would  have  replaced  their  species,  which,  in  the  ordinary 
operation  of  natural  laws,  may  have  been  verging  toward  ex- 
tinction. Thus  not  only  man,  but  the  Eden  in  which  he 
dwelt,  with  all  its  animals  and  plants,  would  have  gradually 
encroached  on  the  surrounding  wilderness,  until  man's  happy 
and  peaceful  reign  had  replaced  that  of  the  ferocious  beasts 
that  preceded  him  in  dominion,  and  had  extended  at  least 
over  all  the  temperate  region  of  the  earth.  4.  The  cursing  of 
the  ground  for  man's  sake,  on  his  fall  from  innocence,  would 


The  Higher  Animals  and  Man.  239 

thus  consist  in  the  permission  given  to  the  predaceous  an- 
imals and  the  thorns  and  the  briers  of  other  centres  of  cre- 
ation to  invade  his  Eden  ;  or,  in  his  own  expulsion,  to  con- 
tend with  the  animals  and  plants  which  were  intended  to 
have  given  way  and  become  extinct  before  him.  Thus  the 
fall  of  man  would  produce  an  arrestment  in  the  progress  of 
the  earth  in  that  last  great  revolution  which  would  have  con- 
verted it  into  an  Eden ;  and  the  anomalies  of  its  present 
state  consist,  according  to  Scripture,  in  a  mixture  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  tertiary  with  those  of  the  human  period.  5. 
Though  there  is  good  ground  for  believing  that  man  was  to 
have  been  exempted  from  the  general  law  of  mortality,  we 
can  not  infer  that  any  such  exemption  would  have  been  en- 
joyed by  his  companion  animals  ;  we  only  know  that  he 
himself  would  have  been  free  from  all  annoyance  and  injury 
and  decay  from  external  causes.  We  may  also  conclude 
that,  while  Eden  was  sufficient  for  his  habitation,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  earth  would  continue,  just  as  in  the  earlier 
tertiary  periods,  under  the  dominion  of  the  predaceous  mam- 
mals, reptiles,  and  birds.  6.  The  above  views  enable  us  on 
the  one  hand  to  avoid  the  difficulties  that  attend  the  admis- 
sion of  predaceous  animals  into  Eden,  and  on  the  other  the 
still  more  formidable  difficulties  that  attend  the  attempt 
to  exclude  them  altogether  from  the  Adamic  world.  They 
also  illustrate  the  geological  fact  that  many  animals,  con- 
temporaneous with  man,  extend  far  back  into  the  Tertiary 
period.  These  are  creatures  not  belonging  to  the  Edenic 
centre  of  creation,  but  introduced  in  an  earlier  part  of  the 
sixth  day,  and  now  permitted  to  exist  along  with  man  in  his 
fallen  state.  I  have  stated  these  supposed  conditions  of  the 
Adamic  creation  briefly,  and  with  as  little  illustration  as  pos- 
sible, that  they  may  connectedly  strike  the  mind  of  the  reader. 


240  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Each  of  these  statements  is  in  harmony  with  the  Scriptural 
narrative  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  geology  on  the  other ; 
and,  taken  together,  they  afford  an  intelligible  history  of 
the  introduction  of  man.  If  a  geologist  were  to  state,  ct  pri- 
ori^ the  conditions  proper  to  the  creation  of  any  important 
species,  he  could  only  say — the  preparation  or  selection  of 
some  region  of  the  earth  for  it,  and  its  production  along 
with  a  group  of  plants  and  animals  suited  to  it.  These  are 
precisely  the  conditions  implied  in  the  Scriptural  account  of 
the  creation  of  Adam.*  The  difficulties  of  the  subject  have 
arisen  from  supposing,  contrary  to  the  narrative  itself,  that 
the  conditions  necessary  for  Eden  must  in  the  first  instance 
have  extended  over  the  whole  earth,  and  that  the  creatures 
with  which  man  is  in  his  present  dispersion  brought  into 
contact  must  necessarily  have  been  his  companions  there. 
One  would  think  that  many  persons  derive  their  idea  of  the 
first  man  in  Eden  from  nursery  picture-books  ;  for  the  Bible 
gives  no  countenance  to  the  idea  that  all  the  animals  in  the 
world  were  in  Eden.  On  the  contrary,  it  asserts  that  a  selec- 
tion was  made  both  in  the  case  of  animals  and  plants,  and 
that  this  Edenic  assemblage  of  creatures  constituted  man's 
associates  in  his  state  of  primeval  innocence. 

The  food  of  animals  is  specified  at  the  close  of  the  work 
of  this  day.  The  grant  to  man  is  every  herb  bearing  seed, 
and  everv  fruit-tree.  That  to  the  lower  animals  is  more  ex- 
tensive — every  green  herb.  This  can  not  mean  that  every 
animal  in  the  earth  was  herbivorous.  It  may  refer  to  the 
group  of  animals  associated  with  man  in  Eden,  and  this  is 
most  likely  the  intention  of  the  writer ;  but  if  it  includes  the 
animals  of  the  whole  earth,  we  may  be  certain,  from  the  ex- 

*  Sec  Lycllj  Principles  of  Geology,  "Introduction  of  Species." 


TJie  HigJicr  Animals  and  Man.  241 

press  mention  of  carnivorous  creatures  in  the  work  of  the 
fifth  and  sixth  days,  that  it  indicates  merely  the  general  fact 
that  the  support  of  the  whole  animal  kingdom  is  based  on 
vegetation. 

A  most  important  circumstance  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  sixth  day  is  that  it  witnessed  the  creation  both 
of  man  and  the  mammalia.  A  fictitious  writer  would  prob- 
ably have  exalted  man  by  assigning  to  him  a  separate  day, 
and  by  placing  the  whole  animal  kingdom  together  in  respect 
to  time.  He  would  be  all  the  more  likely  to  do  this,  if  unac- 
quainted, as  most  ignorant  persons  as  well  as  literary  men 
are,  with  the  importance  and  teeming  multitudes  of  the  lower 
tribes  of  animals,  and  with  the  typical  identity  of  the  human 
frame  with  that  of  the  higher  animals.  Moses  has  not  done 
so,  we  are  at  liberty  to  suppose,  because  the  vision  of  creation 
had  it  otherwise ;  and  modern  geology  has  amply  vindicated 
him  in  this  by  its  disclosure  of  the  intimate  connection 
of  the  human  with  the  tertiary  period;  and  has  shown  in 
this  as  in  other  instances  that  truth  and  not  "accommoda- 
tion" was  the  object  of  the  sacred  writer.  While,  as  already 
stated,  many  existing  species  extend  far  back  into  the  tertiary 
period,  showing  that  the  earth  has  been  visited  by  no  univer- 
sal catastrophe  since  the  first  creation  of  mammals ;  on  the 
other  hand,  we  can  not  with  certainty  trace  any  existing 
species  back  beyond  the  commencement  of  the  tertiary  era. 
Geology  and  revelation,  therefore,  coincide  in  referring  the 
creation  of  man  to  the  close  of  the  period  in  which  mammals 
were  introduced  and  became  predominant,  and  in  establish- 
ing a  marked  separation  between  that  period  and  the  preced- 
ing one  in  which  the  lower  animals  held  undisputed  sway. 
This  coincidence,  while  it  strengthens  the  probability  that  the 
creative  days  were  long  periods,  opposes  an   almost  insur- 

L 


242  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

mountable  obstacle  to  every  other  hypothesis  of  reconcili- 
ation with  geological  science. 

At  the  close  of  this  day  the  Creator  again  reviews  his  work, 
and  pronounces  it  good.  Step  by  step  the  world  had  been 
evolved  from  a  primeval  chaos,  through  many  successive  phys- 
ical changes  and  long  series  of  organized  beings.  It  had  now 
reached  its  acme  of  perfection,  and  had  received  its  most 
illustrious  tenant,  possessing  an  organism  excelling  all  others 
in  majesty  and  beauty,  and  an  immaterial  soul  the  shadow 
of  the  glorious  Creator  himself  Well  might  the  angels  sing, 
when  the  long-protracted  work  was  thus  grandly  completed : 

"Thrice  happy  man, 
And  sons  of  men,  \Yhom  God  hath  thus  advanced, 
Created  in  his  image,  there  to  dwell 
And  worship  him,  and  in  reward  to  rule 
Over  his  works  in  earth,  or  sea,  or  air, 
And  multiply  a  race  of  worshippers 
Holy  and  just ;   thrice  happy,  if  they  know 
Their  happiness  and  persevere  upright." 

The  Hebrew  idea  of  the  golden  age  of  Eden  is  pure  and 
exalted.  It  consists  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  favor  of  God, 
and  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  excellent  in  his  works.  God 
and  nature  are  the  whole.  Nor  is  it  merely  a  rude,  unintel- 
ligent, sensuous  enjoyment.  Man  primeval  is  not  a  lazy 
savage  gathering  acorns.  He  is  made  in  the  image  of  the 
Creator;  he  is  to  keep  and  dress  his  garden,  and  it  is  fur- 
nished with  every  plant  good  for  food  and  pleasant  to  the 
sight.  In  the  midst  of  our  material  civilization  we  need  to 
disabuse  ourselves  of  some  prejudices  before  we  can  realize 
the  fact  that  man,  without  the  arts  of  life  or  any  need  of  them, 
is  not  necessarily  a  barbarian  or  a  savage.  Yet  even  Adam 
must   have   been    an    agriculturist   with    strong   and  willing 


Tlie  HigJicr  Animals  and  Man,  243 

hands,  and  must  have  had  some  need  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments such  as  those  with  which  the  least  civilized  of  his  de- 
scendants have  been  wont  to  till  the  soil.  Still,  without  art 
or  with  very  little  of  it,  he  could  enjoy  all  that  is  beautiful  and 
grand  in  nature,  and  could  rise  from  the  observation  of  nat- 
ure to  communion  wdth  God.  We  need  the  more  to  realize 
this,  inasmuch  as  there  seems  so  strong  a  tendency  to  con- 
found material  civilization  with  higher  culture,  and  to  hold 
that  man  primeval  must  have  been  low  and  debased  sim- 
ply because  he  may  have  had  no  temples  and  no  machinery. 
We  must  remember  that  he  had  nature,  which  is  higher  than. 
fine  art,  and  that  when  in  harmony  with  his  surroundings  he 
may  have  had  no  need  either  of  exhausting  labor  or  of  me- 
chanical contrivances.  Farther,  in  the  contemplation  of  nat- 
ure and  in  seeking  after  God,  he  had  higher  teachers  than 
our  boasted  civilization  can  claim. 

Alas  for  fallen  man,  with  his  poor  civilization  gathered 
little  by  little  from  the  dust  of  earth,  and  his  paltry  art  that 
halts  immeasurably  behind  nature.  Hov/  little  is  he  able 
even  to  appreciate  the  high  estate  of  his  great  ancestor. 
The  world  of  fallen  men  has  worshipped  art  too  much,  rev- 
erenced and  studied  God  and  nature  too  little.  The  savage 
displays  the  lowest  taste  when  he  admires  the  rude  figures 
which  he  paints  on  his  face  or  his  garments  more  than  the 
glorious  painting  that  adorns  nature ;  yet  even  he  acknowl- 
edges the  pre-eminent  excellence  of  nature  by  imitating  her 
forms  and  colors,  and  by  adapting  her  painted  plumes  and 
flowers  to  his  own  use.  There  is  a  wide  interval,  including 
many  gradations,  between  this  low  position  and  that  of  the 
cultivated  amateur  or  artist.  The  art  of  the  latter  makes  a 
nearer  approach  to  the  truly  beautiful,  inasmuch  as  it  more 
accurately  represents  the  geometric  and  organic  forms  and 


244  ^J^^  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  coloring  of  nature;  and  inasmuch  as  it  devises  ideal  com- 
binations not  found  in  the  actual  world;  which  ideal  combi- 
nations, however,  are  beautiful  or  monstrous  just  as  they  re- 
alize or  violate  the  harmonies  of  nature.  It  is  only  the  high- 
est culture  that  brings  man  back  to  his  primitive  refinement. 

Art  takes  her  true  place  when  she  sits  at  the  feet  of  nature, 
and  brings  her  students  to  drink  in  its  beauties,  that  they 
may  endeavor,  however  imperfectly,  to  reproduce  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  student  of  nature  must  not  content  him- 
self with  "writing  Latin  names  on  white  paper,"  wherewith 
to  label  nature's  productions,  but  must  rise  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  order  and  beauty  of  the  Cosmos  as  a  revelation  of 
Divinity.  Both  will  thus  rise  to  that  highest  taste  which  will 
enable  them  to  appreciate  not  only  the  elegance  of  individu- 
al forms,  but  their  structure,  their  harmonies,  their  grouping 
and  their  relations,  their  special  adaptation,  and  their  places 
as  parts  of  a  great  system.  Thus  art  will  attain  that  highest 
point  in  which  it  displays  original  genius,  without  violating 
natural  truth  and  unity,  and  nature  will  be  regarded  as  the 
highest  art. 

Much  is  said  and  done  in  our  time  with  reference  to  the 
cultivation  of  popular  taste  for  fine  art  as  a  means  of  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  this,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  well ;  but  the  only  sure 
path  to  the  highest  taste-education  is  the  cultivation  of  the 
study  of  nature.  This  is  also  an  easier  branch  of  education, 
provided  the  instructors  have  sufficient  knowledge.  Good 
works  of  art  are  rare  and  costly ;  but  good  works  of  nature 
are  everywhere  around  us,  waiting  to  be  examined.  Such 
education,  popularly  diffused,  would  react  on  the  efforts  of 
art.  It  would  enable  a  widely  extended  public  to  appreci- 
ate real  excellence,  and  would  cause  works  of  art  to  be 
valued  just  in  proportion  to  the  extent  to  which  they  realize 


TJie  Higher  Animals  and  Man,  245 

or  deviate  from  natural  truth  and  unity.  I  do  not  profess  to 
speak  authoritatively  on  such  subjects,  but  I  confess  that  the 
strong  impression  on  my  mind  is  that  neither  the  revered 
antique  models,  nor  the  practice  and  principles  of  the  gener- 
ality of  modern  art  reformers,  would  endure  such  criticism ; 
and  that  if  we  could  combine  popular  enthusiasm  for  art 
with  scientific  appreciation  of  nature,  a  new  and  better  art 
might  arise  from  the  union. 

I  may  appear  to  dwell  too  long  upon  this  topic  ;  but  my  ex- 
cuse must  be  that  it  leads  to  a  true  estimate  both  of  natural 
history  and  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  study  of  nature 
guides  to  those  large  views  of  the  unity  and  order  of  creation 
which  alone  are  worthy  of  a  being  of  the  rank  of  man,  and 
which  lead  him  to  adequate  conceptions  of  the  Creator ;  but 
the  truly  wise  recognize  three  grades  of  beauty.  First,  that 
of  art,  which,  in  its  higher  efforts,  can  raise  ordinary  minds 
far  above  themselves.  Secondly,  that  of  nature,  which,  in  its 
most  common  objects,  must  transcend  the  former,  since  its 
artist  is  that  God  of  whose  infinite  mind  the  genius  of  the 
artist  is  only  a  faint  reflection.  Thirdly,  that  pre-eminent 
beauty  of  moral  goodness  revealed  only  in  the  spiritual  nat- 
ure of  the  Supreme.  The  first  is  one  of  the  natural  resources 
of  fallen  man  in  his  search  for  happiness.  The  second  was 
man's  joy  in  his  primeval  innocence.  The  third  is  the  inher- 
itance of  man  redeemed.  It  is  folly  to  place  these  on  the 
same  level.  It  is  greater  folly  to  worship  either  or  both  of 
the  first  without  regard  to  the  last.  It  is  true  wisdom  to  as- 
pire to  the  last,  and  to  regard  nature  as  the  handmaid  of 
piety,  art  as  but  the  handmaid  of  nature. 

Nature  to  the  unobservant  is  merely  a  mass  of  things 
more  or  less  beautiful  or  interesting,  but  without  any  definite 
order  or  significance.     An  observer  soon  arrives  at  the  con- 


246  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

elusion  that  it  is  a  series  of  circling  changes,  ever  returning 
to  the  same  points,  ever  renewing  their  courses,  under  the 
action  of  invariable  laws.  But  if  he  rests  here,  he  falls  infi- 
nitely short  of  the  idea  of  the  Cosmos,  and  stands  on  the 
brink  of  the  profound  error  of  eternal  succession.  A  little 
further  progress  conducts  him  to  the  inviting  field  of  special 
adaptation  and  mutual  relation  of  things.  He  finds  that 
nothing  is  without  its  use  ;  that  every  structure  is  most  nice- 
ly adjusted  to  special  ends ;  that  the  supposed  ceaseless  cir- 
cling of  nature  is  merely  the  continuous  action  of  great  pow- 
ers, by  which  an  infinity  of  utilities  are  worked  out — the 
great  fly-wlieel  which,  in  its  unceasing  and  at  first  sight  ap- 
parently aimless  round,  is  giving  motion  to  thousands  of  reels 
and  spindles  and  shuttles,  that  are  spinning  and  weaving,  in 
all  its  varied  patterns,  the  great  web  of  life. 

But  the  observer,  as  he  looks  on  this  web,  is  surprised  to 
find  that  it  has  in  its  whole  extent  a  wondrous  pattern.  He 
rises  to  the  contemplation  of  type  in  nature,  a  great  truth  to 
which  science  has  only  lately  opened  its  eyes.  He  begins 
dimly  to  perceive  that  the  Creator  has  from  the  beginning 
had  a  plan  before  his  mind,  that  this  plan  embraced  various 
types  or  patterns  of  existence;  that  on  these  patterns  he  has 
been  working  out  the  whole  system  of  nature,  adapting  each 
to  all  the  variety  of  uses  by  an  infinity  of  minor  modifications. 
That,  in  short,  whether  he  study  the  eye  of  a  gnat  or  the 
structure  of  a  mountain  chain,  he  sees  not  only  objects  of 
beauty  and  utility,  but  parts  of  far-reaching  plans  of  infinite 
wisdom,  by  which  all  objects,  however  separated  in  time  or 
space,  are  linked  together. 

How  much  of  positive  pleasure  does  that  man  lose  who 
passes  through  life  absorbed  with  its  wants  and  its  artifici- 
alities, and  re^ardin"  with  a  "  brute,  unconscious  sraze  "  the 


The  Higher  Animals  and  Man.  247 

grand  revelation  of  a  higher  intelligence  in  the  outer  world. 
It  is  only  in  an  approximation  through  our  Divine  Redeemer 
to  the  moral  likeness  of  God  that  we  can  be  truly  happy;  but 
of  the  subsidiary  pleasures  which  we  are  here  permitted  to 
enjoy,  the  contemplation  of  nature  is  one  of  the  best  and 
purest.  It  was  the  pleasure,  the  show,  the  spectacle  prepared 
for  man  in  Eden,  and  how  much  true  philosophy  and  taste 
shine  in  the  simple  words  that  in  paradise  God  planted 
trees  "pleasant  to  the  sight,"  as  well  as  "good  for  food." 
Other  things  being  equal,  the  nearer  we  can  return  to  this 
primitive  taste,  the  greater  will  be  our  sensuous  enjoyment,- 
the  better  the  influence  of  our  pleasures  on  our  moral  nature, 
because  they  will  then  depend  on  the  cultivation  of  tastes  at 
once  natural  and  harmless,  and  will  not  lead  us  to  commun- 
ion with  and  reverence  for  merely  human  genius,  but  will 
conduct  us  into  the  presence  of  the  infinite  perfection  of  the 
Creator. 

The  Bible  knows  but  one  species  of  man.  It  is  not  said 
that  men  were  created  after  their  species,  as  we  read  of  the 
groups  of  animals.  Man  was  made,  "male  and  female;"  and 
in  the  fuller  details  afterwards  given  in  the  second  chap- 
ter— where  the  writer,  having  finished  his  general  narrative, 
commences  his  special  history  of  man — but  one  primitive 
pair  is  introduced  to  our  notice.  We  scarcely  need  the  de- 
tailed tables  of  affiliation  afterward  given,  or  the  declaration 
of  the  apostle  who  preached  to  the  supposed  autochthones 
of  Athens,  that  "  God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations,"  to 
assure  us  of  the  Scriptural  unity  of  man.  If,  therefore,  there 
were  any  good  reason  to  believe  that  man  is  not  of  one  but 
several  origins,  we  must  admit  Moses  to  have  been  very  im- 
perfectly informed.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  does  the  Bible 
any  more  than  geology  allow  us  to  assign  a  very  high  antiq- 


248  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

uity  to  the  origin  of  man  relatively  to  that  of  the  earth  on  which 
he  dwells.  The  genealogical  tables  of  the  Bible  may  admit  of 
some  limits  of  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  age  of  the  hu- 
man world  or  aeon,  and  also  of  that  of  the  deluge,  from  which 
man  took  his  second  point  of  departure ;  but  they  do  not 
allow  us  to  put  the  origin  of  man  farther  back  than  that  of 
the  present  or  modern  condition  of  our  continents  and  the 
present  races  of  animals.  They  therefore  limit  us  to  the 
modern  or  quaternary  period  of  geology.  The  question  of 
man's  antiquity,  so  much  agitated  now,  demands,  however,  a 
separate  and  careful  consideration ;  but  we  must  first  devote 
a  few  pages  to  the  simple  statements  of  the  Bible  respecting 
the  Sabbath  of  creation  and  its  relation  to  human  history. 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator,  249 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  REST  OF  THE  CREATOR. 

"And  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished,  and  all  the  host  of  them. 
And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work  which  he  had  made,  and  he 
rested  on  the  seventh  day  from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made.  And 
God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it,  because  that  in  it  God  rest- 
ed from  all  his  work  which  he  had  created  to  make." — Genesis  ii.,  1-3. 

The  end  of  the  sixth  day  closed  the  work  of  creation  prop- 
erly so  called,  as  well  as  that  of  forming  and  arranging  the 
things  created.  The  beginning  of  the  seventh  introduced  a 
period  which,  according  to  the  views  already  stated,  was  to 
be  occupied  by  the  continued  increase  and  diffusion  of  man 
and  the  creatures  under  his  dominion,  and  by  the  gradual 
disappearance  of  tribes  of  creatures  unconnected  with  his 
well-being. 

Science  in  this  well  accords  with  Scripture.  No  proof  ex- 
ists of  the  production  of  a  new  species  since  the  creation  of 
man;  and  all  geological  and  archaeological  evidence  points 
to  him  and  a  few  of  the  higher  mammals  as  the  newest  of 
the  creatures.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  good  evidence 
that  several  species  have  become  extinct  since  his  creation. 
Those  who  believe  in  the  continuous  evolution  of  animals 
and  men,  it  is  true,  can  see  no  actual  termination  of  the 
process  with  the  introduction  of  man ;  but  even  they  see  that 
the  appearance  of  a  rational  and  moral  being  at  least  changes 
the  nature  and  order  of  the  development.     Nor  can  they  doubt 

L  2 


250  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

that  man  is  the  last  born  of  nature,  and  that  the  whole  ani- 
mal creation  is  crowned  by  him  as  its  capital  or  topmost  pin- 
nacle. The  later  speculators  on  this  subject  have  never 
reached  any  truth  beyond  that  long  ago  stated  by  the  lament- 
ed Edward  Forbes  —  a  most  careful  observer  and  accurate 
reasoner  on  the  more  recent  changes  of  the  earth's  surface. 
He  infers,  from  the  distribution  of  species  from  their  centres 
of  creation,  that  man  is  the  latest  product  of  creative  power; 
or,  in  other  words,  that  none  of  those  species  or  groups  of 
species  which  he  had  been  able  to  trace  to  their  centres,  or 
the  spots  at  which  they  probably  originated,  appear  to  be  of 
later  or  as  late  origin  as  man.  "This  consideration,"  he  says, 
"induces  me  to  believe  that  the  last  province  in  time  w^as 
completed  by  the  coming  of  man,  and  to  maintain  an  hypoth- 
esis that  man  stands  unique  in  space  and  time,  himself  equal 
to  the  sum  of  any  pre-existing  centre  of  creation  or  of  all — an 
hypothesis  consistent  with  man's  moral  and  social  position  in 
the  world." 

The  seventh  day,  then,  was  to  have  been  that  in  which  all 
the  happiness,  beauty,  and  perfection  of  the  others  were  to 
have  been  concentrated.  But  an  element  of  instability  was 
present  in  the  being  who  occupied  the  summit  of  the  animal 
scale.  Not  regulated  by  blind  and  unerring  instincts,  but  a 
free  agent,  with  a  high  intellectual  and  moral  nature,  and  lia- 
ble to  be  acted  on  by  temptation  from  without;  under  such 
influence  he  lost  his  moral  balance  in  stretching  out  his  hand 
to  grasp  the  peculiar  powers  of  Deity,  and  fell  beyond  the  hope 
of  self-redemption — perpetuating,  by  one  of  those  laws  which 
regulate  the  transmission  of  mixed  corporeal  and  spiritual 
natures,  his  degradation  to  every  generation  of  his  species. 
And  so  God's  great  work  was  marred,  and  all  his  plans  seem- 
ed to  be  foiled,  when  they  had  just  reached  their  completion. 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator.  251 

Thus  far  science  might  carry  us  unaided;  for  there  is  not  a 
true  naturalist,  however  skeptical  as  to  revealed  religion,  who 
does  not  feel  in  his  inmost  heart  the  disjointed  state  of  the 
present  relations  of  man  to  nature ;  the  natural  wreck  that 
results  from  his  artificial  modes  of  life,  the  long  trains  of  vio- 
lations of  the  symmetry  of  nature  that  follow  in  the  wake  of 
his  most  boasted  achievements.  But  here  natural  science 
stops;  and  just  as  we  have  found  that,  in  tracing  back  the 
world's  history,  the  Bible  carries  us  much  farther  than  geol- 
ogy, so  science,  having  led  us  to  suspect  the  fallen  state  of 
man,  leaves  us  henceforth  to  the  teaching  of  revelation.  And 
how  glorious  that  teaching !  God  did  not  find  himself  baffled 
— his  resources  are  i-nfinite — he  had  foreseen  and  prepared  for 
all  this  apparent  evil ;  and  out  of  the  moral  wreck  he  proceeds 
to  work  out  the  grand  process  of  redemption,  which  is  the  es- 
pecial object  of  the  seventh  day,  and  which  will  result  in  the 
production  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwell- 
eth  righteousness.  In  the  seventh,  as  in  the  former  days,  the 
evening  precedes  the  morning.  For  four  thousand  years  the 
world  groped  in  its  darkness — a  darkness  tenanted  by  moral 
monsters  as  powerful  and  destructive  as  the  old  pre- Adamite 
reptiles.  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  at  length  arose,  and  the 
darkness  began  to  pass  away;  but  eighteen  centuries  have 
elapsed,  and  we  still  see  but  the  gray  dawn  of  morning,  which 
we  yet  firmly  believe  will  brighten  into  a  glorious  day  that 
shall  know  no  succeeding  night.* 

The  seventh  day  is  the  modern  or  human  era  in  geology; 
and,  though  it  can  not  yet  boast  of  any  physical  changes  so 


*  For  the  exposition  of  the  details  of  the  fall,  I  beg  to  refer  the  reader 
to  McDonald's  "  Creation  and  the  Fall,"  to  Kitto's  "  Antediluvians  and 
Patriarchs,"  and  to  Kurtz's  "History  of  the  Old  Covenant." 


252  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

great  as  those  of  past  periods,  it  is  still  of  much  interest,  as 
affording  the  facts  on  which  we  must  depend  for  explanations 
of  past  changes  ;  and  as  immediately  connected  in  time  with 
those  later  tertiary  periods  which  afford  so  many  curious 
problems  to  the  geological  student.  The  actual  connection 
of  the  human  with  preceding  periods  is  still  involved  in  some 
obscurity ;  and,  as  we  shall  see,  there  has  recently  been  a 
strong  tendency  to  throw  back  the  origin  of  man  into  pre- 
historic ages  of  enormous  length,  on  grounds  which  are,  how- 
ever, much  less  certain  than  is  commonly  imagined.  This 
question  we  have  to  examine ;  but  before  entering  upon  it 
may  shortly  sketch  the  actual  import  of  the  statements  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  respecting  what  may  be  called  the  prehis- 
toric duration  of  the  human  species.  This  is  the  more  neces- 
sary, as  the  most  crude  notions  seem  very  widely  to  prevail 
on  the  subject.  I  shall,  therefore,  in  this  place  notice  some 
general  facts  deducible  from  the  Bible,  and  which  may  be 
useful  in  appreciating  the  true  relation  of  the  human  era  to 
those  which  preceded  it.  It  will  be  understood  that  I  shall 
endeavor  merely  to  present  a  picture  of  what  the  Bible 
actually  teaches,  and  which  any  one  can  verify  by  reading 
the  book  of  Genesis. 

I.  The  local  centre  of  creation  of  the  human  species,  and 
probably  of  a  group  of  creatures  coeval  with  it,  w^as  Eden  ;  a 
country  of  which  the  Scriptures  give  a  somewhat  minute  geo- 
graphical description.  It  was  evidently  a  district  of  Western 
Asia  j  and,  from  its  possession  of  several  important  rivers, 
rather  a  region  or  large  territory  than  a  limited  spot,  such  as 
many,  who  have  discussed  the  question  of  the  site  of  Eden, 
seem  to  suppose.  In  this  view  it  is  a  matter  of  no  moment 
to  fix  its  site  more  nearly  than  the  indication  of  the  Bible  that 
it  included  the  sources  and  probably  large  portions  of  the  val- 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator.  253 

leys  of  the  Tigris,  the  Euphrates,  and  perhaps  the  Oxus  and 
Jaxartes.  Into  the  minor  difficulties  respecting  the  site  of 
Eden  it  would  be  unprofitable  to  enter,  and  it  will  matter  little 
if  we  accept  that  view,  which,  however,  I  think  less  probable, 
that  it  was  placed  in  the  lower  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Eu- 
phrates. I  may  merely  mention  one  particular  of  the  Biblical 
description,  because  it  throws  light  on  the  great  antiquity  of 
this  geographical  delineation,  and  has  been  strangely  miscon- 
ceived by  expositors — the  relation  of  those  rivers  to  Cush  or 
Ethiopia  and  Havilah,  a  tribal  name  derived  from  that  of  a 
grandson  of  Cush.  On  consulting  the  tenth  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis, it  will  be  found  that  the  Cushites  under  Nimrod,  very 
soon  after  the  deluge,  are  stated  to  have  pushed  their  migra- 
tions and  conquests  along  the  Tigris  to  the  northward,  and 
established  there  the  first  empire.  It  is  probably  this  prim- 
itive Cushite  empire,  called  Ethiopia  in  our  translation,  which 
in  the  epoch  of  the  description  of  Eden  occupied  the  Euphra- 
tean  valley,  and  being  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  river  call- 
ed Gihon,  was  thus  believed  to  extend  over  the  old  site  of 
Eden.  Thus  the  Cush  or  Ethiopia  of  the  description  has  no 
direct  connection  with  the  African  Ethiopia,  and  speculations 
based  on  such  a  supposed  connection  are  groundless.  On 
the  other  hand  this  feature  furnishes  an  interesting  coinci- 
dence with  other  parts  of  Genesis,  and  throws  light  on  many 
obscure  points  in  the  early  history  of  man ;  and  since  this 
Cushite  empire  had  perished  even  before  the  time  of  Moses, 
it  indicates  a  still  more  ancient  tradition  respecting  the  pri- 
meval abode  of  our  species. 

2.  Before  the  deluo:e  this  reo:ion  must  have  been  the  seat 
of  a  dense  population,  which,  according  to  the  Biblical  ac- 
count, must  have  made  considerable  advances  in  the  arts, 
and   at   the   same   time   sunk  very   low   in   moral   debase- 


254  The  Origiyi  of  the  World. 

ment.*  Whether  any  remains  of  the  central  portions  of  this  an- 
cient population  or  its  works  exist  will  probably  not  be  deter- 
mined with  absolute  certainty  till  we  have  accurate  geological 
investigations  of  the  whole  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Caspian  Sea  and  along  the  great  rivers  of  Western  Asia,  though 
there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  the  belief  that  some  of  the 
old  prehistoric  men  whose  remains  are  discovered  in  caves 
and  river  gravels  in  Europe  may  belong  to  the  antediluvian 
race.  Should  such  remains  be  found,  we  might  infer,  from 
the  extreme  longevity  and  other  characteristics  assigned  to 
the  antediluvians,  that  their  skeletons  would  present  peculiar- 
ities entitlinsf  them  to  be  considered  a  well-marked  varietv  of 
the  human  species,  and  this  not  of  a  low  type  of  physical 
organization.  We  may  also  infer  that  the  family  of  man  very 
early  divided  into  two  races — one  retaining  in  greater  purity 
the  moral  endowments  of  the  species,  the  other  excelling  in 
the  mechanical  and  fine  arts ;  and  that  there  were  rude  and 
savage  outlying  communities  of  men  then  as  at  present.  If 
the  so-called  palaeolithic  men  of  Europe  are  antediluvian,  they 
were  probably  of  such  outlying  tribes,  and  possibly  of  the 
mixed  race  which  sprung  up  in  the  later  antediluvian  age, 
and  who  are  described  as  mighty  men  physically,  and  men  of 
violence.     It  would  be  quite  natural  that  this  intermixture 


*  The  Bible  specifies,  perhaps  only  as  the  principal  of  these  arts,  music 
and  musical  instruments  by  Jubal,  metallurgy  by  Tubalcain,  the  domes- 
tication of  cattle  and  the  nomade  life  by  Jabal.  It  is  highly  probable  that 
these  inventors  are  introduced  into  the  Mosaic  record  for  a  theological 
reason,  to  point  out  the  folly  of  the  worship  rendered  to  Phtha,  Hephses- 
tos,  Vulcan,  Horus,  Phoebus,  and  other  inventors,  either  traditionary  rep- 
resentatives of  the  family  of  Lamech,  or  other  heroes  wrongly  identified 
with  them.  Very  possibly  their  sister  Naamah,  "  the  beautiful,"  is  intro- 
duced for  the  same  reason,  as  the  true  original  of  some  of  the  female  deities 
of  the  heathen. 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator.  255 

of  the  Sethite  and  Cainite  races  should  produce  a  race  excel- 
ling both  in  energy  and  physical  endowments — the  "giants" 
that  were  in  those  days.*  If  any  remains  of  the  two  central 
nations  of  the  antediluvian  period  are  ever  discovered,  we 
may  confidently  anticipate  that  the  distinctive  characteristics 
of  these  races  may  be  detected  in  their  osseous  structures  as 
well  as  in  their  works  of  art.  Farther,  it  is  to  be  inferred 
from  notices  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  before  the 
deluge  there  was  both  a  nomadic  and  a  settled  population, 
and  that  the  principal  seat  of  the  Cainite,  or  more  debased 
yet  energetic  branch  of  the  human  family,  was  to  the  eastward 
of  the  site  of  Eden.  No  intimations  are  given  by  which  the 
works  of  art  of  antediluvian  times  could  be  distinguished  from 
those  of  later  periods  ;  but  that  curious  summary  of  the  treas- 
ures of  antediluvian  man  contained  in  the  notice  that  the 
land  of  Havilah  produced  gold  and  agate  and  pearl  (Gen. 
ii.,  12)  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  the  early  antediluvian 
age  was  on  the  whole  an  age  of  stone,  in  which  flint  for  weap- 
ons, and  gold  and  shell  wampum  for  ornaments,  were  the  lead- 
ing kinds  of  wealth.  On  the  other  hand,  the  notices  of  ante- 
diluvian metallurgy,  and  the  building  and  construction  of  the 
ark,  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  the  later  antediluvians  had  at- 
tained to  much  perfection  in  some  constructive  arts — a  conclu- 
sion which  harmonizes  with  the  otherwise  inexplicable  perfec- 
tion of  such  art  soon  after  the  deluge,  as  evidenced  not  only 
by  the  story  of  Babel,  but  also  by  the  early  works  of  the  As- 
syrians and  Egyptians. 

3.  When  the  antediluvian  population  had  fully  proved  it- 


*  I  can  not  for  a  moment  entertain  the  monstrous  supposition  of  many 
expositors  that  the  "sons  of  God"  of  these  passages  are  angels,  and  the 
*'  Nephelim"  hybrids  between  angels  and  men. 


256  TJie  Origin  of  the  World, 

self  unfit  to  enter  into  the  divine  scheme  of  moral  renova- 
tion, it  was  swept  away  by  a  fearful  physical  catastrophe. 
The  deluge  might,  in  all  its  relations,  furnish  material  for  an 
entire  treatise.  I  may  remark  here,  as  its  most  important 
geological  peculiarity,  that  it  was  evidently  a  /<?r^/ convulsion. 
The  object,  that  of  destroying  the  human  race  and  the  an- 
imal population  of  its  peculiar  centre  of  creation,  the  preser- 
vation of  specimens  of  these  creatures  in  the  ark,  and  the 
physical  requirements  of  the  case,  necessitate  this  conclu- 
sion, which  is  now  accepted  by  the  best  Biblical  expositors,"^ 
and  which  inflicts  no  violence  on  the  terms  of  the  record. 
Viewed  in  this  light,  the  phenomena  recorded  in  the  Bible, 
in  connection  with  geological  probabilities,  lead  us  to  infer 
that  the  physical  agencies  evoked  by  the  divine  power  to 
destroy  this  ungodly  race  were  a  subsidence  of  the  region 
they  inhabited,  so  as  to  admit  the  oceanic  waters,  and  exten- 
sive atmospherical  disturbances  connected  with  that  subsid- 
ence, and  perhaps  with  the  elevation  of  neighboring  regions. 
In  this  case  it  is  possible  that  the  Caspian  Sea,  which  is  now 
more  than  eighty  feet  below  the  level  of  the  ocean,t  and 
which  was  probably  much  more  extensive  then  than  at  pres- 
ent, received  much  of  the  drainage  of  the  flood,  and  that  the 
mud  and  sand  deposits  of  this  sea  and  the  adjoining  desert 
plains,  once  manifestly  a  part  of  its  bottom,  conceal  any  re- 
mains that  exist  of  the  antediluvian  population.  In  connec- 
tion with  this,  it  may  be  remarked  that,  in  the  book  of  Job, 
Eliphaz   speaks   as  if  the  locality  of  those  wicked   nations 


*  See  Lange's  "  Commentary  on  Genesis." 

t  The  Russian  surveys  of  1836  made  it  one  hundred  and  eight  En- 
glish feet ;  but  later  authorities  reduce  it  to  eighty-three  feet  six  inches 
below  the  Black  Sea. 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator,  257 

which  existed  before  the  deluge  was  known  and  accessible 
in  his  time  : 

"Hast  thou  marked  the  ancient  way 
Which  wicked  men  have  trodden, 
Who  were  seized  [by  the  waters]  in  a  moment, 
And  whose  foundations  a  flood  swept  away  ?" 

— Job  xxii.,  15. 

On  comparing  this  statement  with  the  answer  of  Job  in  the 
26th  chapter,  verse  5th,  it  would  seem  that  the  ungodly  ante- 
diluvians were  supposed  to  be  still  under  the  waters ;  a  be- 
lief quite  intelligible  if  the  Caspian,  which,  on  the  latest  and 
most  probable  views  of  the  locality  of  the  events  of  this  book, 
was  not  very  remote  from  the  residence  of  Job,*  was  sup- 
posed to  mark  the  position  of  the  pre-Noachic  population, 
as  the  Dead  Sea  afterward  did  that  of  the  cities  of  the  plain. 
Some  of  the  dates  assigned  to  the  book  of  Job  would,  how- 
ever, render  it  possible  that  this  last  catastrophe  is  that  to 
which  he  refers : 

"The  Rephaim  tremble  from  beneath 
The  waters  and  their  inhabitants. 
Sheol  is  naked  before  him, 
And  destruction  hath  no  covering." 

The  word  Rephaim  here  has  been  variously  rendered 
"shades  of  the  dead"  and  "giants."  It  is  properly  the 
family  or  national  name  of  certain  tribes  of  gigantic  Ham- 
ite  men  (the  Anakim,  Emim,  etc.)  inhabiting  Western  Asia 
at  a  very  remote  period ;  and  it  must  here  refer  either  to 
them  or  to  the  still  earlier  antediluvian  giants.f 

*  Kitto's  "Bible  Illustrations  "—Book  of  Job. 

t  See  article  "Rephaim"  in  Kitto's  "Journal  of  Sacred  Literature." 
But  Gesenius  and  others  regard  it,  not  as  an  ethnic  name,  but  as  a  term 
for  the  "  shades  "  or  spirits  of  the  dead.     See  Conant  on  Job. 


258  TJu  Origin  of  the  World. 

It  is  also  an  important  point  to  be  noticed  here  that  the 
narrative  of  the  deluge  in  Genesis  is  given  as  the  testimony 
or  record  of  an  eye-witness,  and  is  to  be  so  understood ;  and 
that  the  terms  of  the  record  imply,  not  as  usually  held  that 
all  sorts  of  animals  were  taken  into  Noah's  ark,  but  only  a 
selection,  the  character  of  which  is  clearly  indicated  by  a 
comparison  of  the  five  lists  of  animals  given  in  the  narrative. 
Bearing  this  in  mind,  and  noticing  that  the  wTiter  tells  of  his 
own  experience  as  to  the  rise  of  the  water,  the  drifting  of  the 
ark,  the  disappearance  of  all  visible  shore,  and  the  sounding 
fifteen  cubits  where  a  hill  had  before  been,  all  the  difficulties 
of  the  narrative  of  the  deluge  will  at  once  disappear.  These 
difficulties  have  in  fact  arisen  from  regarding  the  story  as  the 
composition  of  a  historian,  not  as  what  it  manifestly  is,  the 
log  or  journal  of  a  contemporary,  introduced  with  probably 
little  change  by  the  compiler  of  the  book. 

After  the  deluge,  we  find  the  human  race  settled  in  the 
plains  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  attracted  thither  by  the 
fertility  of  their  alluvial  soils.  There  we  find  them  engaging 
in  a  great  political  scheme,  no  doubt  founded  on  recollec- 
tions of  the  old  antediluvian  nationalities,  and  on  a  dread 
of  the  evils  which  able  and  aspiring  men  would  anticipate 
from  that  wide  dispersion  of  the  human  race  that  appears 
to  have  been  intended  by  the  Creator  in  the  new  circum- 
stances of  the  earth.  They  commenced  accordingly  the 
erection  of  a  city  or  tower  at  Babel,  in  the  plain  of  Shinar, 
to  form  a  common  bond  of  union,  a  great  public  work  that 
should  be  a  rallying-point  for  the  race,  and  around  w-hich  its 
patriotism  might  concentrate  itself.  The  attempt  was  coun- 
teracted by  an  interposition  of  divine  Providence ;  and 
thenceforth  the  diffusion  of  the  human  race  proceeded  un- 
checked, carrying  with  it   everywhere   the   memory  of  the 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator.  259 

celebrated  tower,  which  perpetuated  itself  not  only  in  the 
mounds  of  Assyria  and  Babylon  and  the  pyramids  of  Egypt, 
but  in  the  teocallis  and  temple  mounds  of  the  New  World. 
The  Babel  enterprise  is  in  fact  the  first  recorded  development 
of  that  mound-building  instinct  which  the  earlier  races  every- 
where evince,  and  which  has  been  a  distinguishing  character- 
istic more  especially  of  the  Cushite  or  Turanian  race,  and  has 
apparently  made  them  the  teachers  of  constructive  arts  to  all 
other  peoples.  Perhaps  a  dread  of  the  total  decay  and  loss 
of  the  surviving  antediluvian  arts  in  construction  and  other 
matters  may  have  been  one  impelling  motive  to  the  building 
of  Babel.  Perhaps  it  was  connected  with  the  communistic 
ideas  of  the  Turanian  race,  and  their  conflict  with  the  patri- 
archal habits  of  the  Semites.  Out  of  the  enterprise  at  Babel, 
however,  arose  a  new  type  of  evil,  which,  in  the  forms  of  mil- 
itary despotism,  the  spirit  of  conquest,  hero-worship,  and  the 
alliance  of  these  influences  with  literature  and  the  arts,  has 
been  handed  down  through  every  succeeding  age  to  our  own 
time.  The  name  of  Nimrod,  the  son  of  Cush,  has  been  pre- 
served to  us  in  the  Bible,  and  also  apparently  in  the  tablets 
and  inscriptions  of  Assyria,  as  the  founder  of  the  first  des- 
potism. This  bold  and  ambitious  man,  subsequently  deified 
under  different  names,  established  a  Hamite  or  Turanian 
empire,  which  appears  to  have  extended  its  sway  over  the 
tribes  occupying  Southwestern  Asia  and  Northeastern  Africa, 
everywhere  supporting  its  power  by  force  of  arms,  and  intro- 
ducing a  debasing  polytheistic  hero-worship,  and  certain 
forms  of  art  probably  derived  from  antediluvian  times.  The 
centre  of  this  Cushite  empire,  however,  gave  way  to  the  ris- 
ing power  of  Assyria  or  the  Ashurite  branch  of  the  sons  of 
Shem,  at  a  period  antecedent  to  the  dawn  of  profane  history, 
except  in  its  mythical  form ;  and  when  the  light  of  secular 


26o  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

history  first  breaks  upon  us,  we  find  Egypt  standing  forth  as 
the  only  stable  representative  of  the  arts,  the  systems,  and 
the  superstitions  of  the  old  Cushite  empire,  of  which  it  had 
been  the  southern  branch ;  while  other  remnants  of  the 
Hamite  races,  included  in  the  empire  of  Nimrod,  were  scat- 
tered over  Western  Asia,  and,  migrating  into  Europe,  with  or 
after  the  ruder  but  less  demoralized  sons  of  Japheth,  carried 
with  them  their  characteristic  civilization  and  mythology,  to 
take  root  in  new  forms  in  Greece  and  Italy.*  Meanwhile 
the  Assyrian  and  Persian  (Elamite)  races  were  growing  in 
Middle  Asia,  and  probably  driving  the  more  eastern  rem- 
nants of  the  Nimrodic  empire  into  India,  borrowing  at  the 
same-  time  their  superstitions  and  their  claims  to  universal 
dominion.  These  views,  which  I  believe  to  correspond  with 
the  few  notices  in  the  Bible  and  in  ancient  history,  and  to  be 
daily  receiving  new  confirmations  from  the  investigations  of 
the  ancient  Assyrian  monuments,  enable  us  to  understand 
many  mysterious  problems  in  the  early  history  of  man. 
They  give  us  reason  to  suspect  that  the  principle  of  the  first 
empire  was  an  imitation  of  the  antediluvian  world,  and  that 
its  arts  and  customs  were  mainly  derived  from  that  source. 
They  show  how  it  happens  that  Egypt,  a  country  so  far  re- 
moved from  the  starting-point  of  man  after  the  deluge, 
should  appear  to  be  the  cradle  of  the  arts,  and  they  account 
for  the  Hamite  and  perhaps  antediluvian  elements,  mixed 


*  On  the  Biblical  view  of  this  subject,  the  so-called  Aryan  mythology, 
common  to  India  and  Greece,  is  either  a  derivative  from  the  Cushite 
civilization,  or  a  spontaneous  growth  of  the  Japetic  stock  scattered  by  the 
Cushite  empire.  The  Semitic  and  Hamitic  mythologies  are  derived  from 
the  primeval  cherubic  worship  of  Eden,  corrupted  and  mixed  with  deifica- 
tion of  natural  objects  and  stages  of  the  creative  work,  and  with  adoration 
of  deified  ancestors  and  heroes. 


The  Rest  of  the  Creator.  261 

with  primeval  Biblical  ideas,  as  the  cherubim,  etc.,  in  the  old 
heathenism  of  India,  Assyria,  and  Southern  Europe,  and 
which  the}^  share  with  Egypt,  having  derived  them  from  the 
same  source.  They  also  show  how  it  is  that  in  the  most  re- 
mote antiquity  we  find  two  well- developed  and  opposite  re- 
ligious systems ;  the  pure  theism  of  Noah,  and  those  who  re- 
tained his  faith,  and  the  idolatry  of  those  tribes  which  re- 
garded with  adoring  veneration  the  objects  and  stages  of  the 
creative  work,  the  grander  powers  and  objects  of  nature,  the 
mighty  Cainites  of  the  world  before  the  flood,  and  the  post- 
diluvian leaders  who  followed  them  in  their  violence,  their 
cultivation  of  the  arts,  and  their  rebellion  against  God. 
These  heroes  were  identified  with  imaginative  conceptions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  animals,  and  other  natural  objects, 
associated  with  the  fortunes  of  cities  and  nations,  with  par- 
ticular territories,  and  with  war  and  the  useful  arts,  trans- 
mitted under  different  names  to  one  country  after  another, 
and  localized  in  each  ;  and  it  is  only  in  comparatively  mod- 
ern times  that  we  have  been  able  to  recognize  the  full  cer- 
tainty of  the  view  held  long  since  by  many  ingenious  writers, 
that  among  the  greater  gods  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  of 
consequence  among  those  also  of  Greece  and  Rome,  were 
Nimrod,  Ham,  Ashur,  Noah,  Mizraim,  and  other  worthies  and 
tyrants  of  the  old  world  ;  and  to  suspect  that  Tubalcain  and 
Naamah,  and  other  antediluvian  names,  were  similarly  hon- 
ored, though  subsequently  overshadowed  by  more  recent  di- 
vinities. The  later  Assyrian  readings  of  Rawlinson,  Hincks, 
and  the  lamented  George  Smith,  and  the  more  recent  works 
on  Eg}^ptian  antiquities,  are  full  of  pregnant  hints  on  these 
subjects.  It  would,  however,  lead  us  too  far  from  our  im- 
mediate subject  to  enter  more  fully  into  these  questions.  I 
have  referred  to  them  merely  to  point  out  connecting-links 


262  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

between  the  secular  and  sacred  history  of  the  earlier  part  of 
the  human  period,  as  a  useful  sequel  to  our  comparison  of  the 
latter  with  the  conclusions  of  science,  and  as  furnishing  hints 
which  may  guide  the  geologist  in  connecting  the  human  with 
the  tertiary  period,  and  in  distinguishing  between  the  antedi- 
luvian and  postdiluvian  portions  of  the  former. 

It  may  be  said,  however,  that  all  this  Biblical  history,  how- 
ever it  may  accord  with  the  little  that  remains  to  us  of  the 
written  annals  of  early  Oriental  nations,  is  entirely  at  vari- 
ance with  those  modern  archaeological  discussions  which 
point  to  an  immense  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  and  to  a 
primitive  barbarism  out  of  which  all  human  culture  was  little 
by  little  evolved;  and  which  results  of  archaeological  investi- 
gation, while  contradictory  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  are  en- 
tirely in  accord  with  the  evolutionist  philosophy.  The  prom- 
inence now  given  to  such  views  as  these  renders  it  necessary 
that  we  should  denote  a  special  chapter  to  their  discussion. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  263 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

UNITY  AND  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN. 

"  These  are  the  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  after  their  generations,  in 
their  nations :  and  by  these  were  the  nations  divided  in  the  earth  after 
the  flood." — Genesis  x.,  32. 

The  theologians  and  evangelical  Christians  of  our  time, 
and  with  them  the  credibility  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  are  sup- 
posed by  many  to  have  been  impaled  on  a  zoological  and 
archaeological  dilemma,  in  a  manner  which  renders  nugatory 
all  attempts  to  reconcile  the  Mosaic  cosmogony  with  science. 
The  Bible,  as  we  have  seen,  knows  but  one  Adam,  and  that 
Adam  not  a  myth  or  an  ethnic  name,  but  a  veritable  man; 
but  some  naturalists  and  ethnologists  think  that  they  have 
found  decisive  evidence  that  man  is  not  of  one  but  of  several 
origins.  The  religious  tendency  of  this  doctrine  no  Christian 
can  fail  to  perceive.  In  whatever  way  put,  or  under  whatever 
disguise,  it  renders  the  Bible  history  worthless,  reduces  us  to 
that  isolation  of  race  from  race  cultivated  in  ancient  times 
by  the  various  local  idolatries,  and  destroys  the  brotherhood 
of  man  and  the  universality  of  that  Christian  atonement  which 
proclaims  that  "  as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive." 

Fortunately,  however,  the  greater  weight  of  biological  and 
archaeological  evidence  is  here  on  the  side  of  the  Bible,  and 
philology  comes  in  with  strong  corroborative  proof  But  just 
as  the  orthodox  theologian  is  beginning  to  congratulate  him- 


264  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

self  on  the  aid  he  has  thus  received,  some  of  his  new  friends 
gravely  tell  him  that,  in  order  to  maintain  their  view,  it  is 
necessary  to  believe  that  man  has  resided  on  earth  for  count- 
less ages,  and  that  it  is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  his 
starting-point  is  so  recent  as  the  Mosaic  deluge.  Nay,  some 
very  rampant  theorists  of  some  ethnological  schools  try  to 
pierce  Moses  and  his  abettors  with  both  horns  of  the  di- 
lemma at  once,  maintaining  that  men  may  be  of  different 
species,  and  yet  may  have  existed  for  an  enormous  length 
of  time  as  well.  The  recent  prevalence  of  theories  of  evolu- 
tion has,  however,  thrown  quite  into  the  background  the  dis- 
cussions formerly  active  respecting  the  unity  of  man,  but  has, 
along  with  geological  and  archaeological  discovery,  given  in- 
creased prominence  to  those  relating  to  the  date  of  the  origin 
of  our  species  and  the  manner  of  its  introduction. 

The  Bible  gives  us  a  definite  epoch,  that  of  the  deluge, 
about  2000  to  3000  B.C.,  for  all  existing  races  of  men;  but 
this,  according  to  it,  was  only  the  second  starting-point  of 
humanity,  and  though  no  family  but  that  of  Noah  survived  the 
terrible  catastrophe,  it  would  be  a  great  error  to  suppose  that 
nothing  antediluvian  appears  in  the  subsequent  history  of 
man.  Before  the  deluge  there  were  arts  and  an  old  civiliza- 
tion, extending  over  at  least  two  thousand  years,  and  after 
the  deluge  men  carried  with  them  these  heirlooms  of  the  old 
world  to  commence  with  them  new  nations.  This  has  been 
tacitly  ignored  by  many  of  the  writers  who  underrate  the  value 
of  the  Hebrew  history.  It  may  be  as  well  for  this  reason  to 
place,  in  a  series  of  propositions,  the  principal  points  in  Gen- 
esis which  relate  to  the  questions  now  before  us. 

I.  Adam  and  Isha,  the  woman,  afterward  called  Eve  (Life- 
giver),  in  consequence  of  the  promise  of  a  Redeemer,  com- 
menced a  life  of  husbandry  on  their  expulsion  from  Eden, 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  265 

which,  on  the  ordinary  views  of  the  Bible  chronology,  may  be 
supposed  to  have  occurred  from  4000  to  5000  years  before 
the  Christian  era;  and  during  the  lifetime  of  the  primal  pair, 
the  sheep,  at  least,  was  domesticated.  The  Bible,  of  course, 
knows  nothing  of  the  imaginary  continent  of  Lemuria,  in 
which,  according  to  some  hypotheses,  men  are  supposed  to 
have  had  their  birth  from  apes.  A  few  generations  after,  in 
the  time  of  Lamech,  cattle  were  domesticated;  and  the  met- 
als copper  and  iron  were  applied  to  use — the  latter  probably 
meteoric  iron ;  and  hence,  it  may  be,  the  Hindoo  and  Hel- 
lenic myths  of  Twachtrei  and  Hephasstos  in  connection  with 
the  thunderbolt.  We  learn,  however,  incidentally,  as  already 
mentioned,  in  the  description  of  Eden  in  Genesis,  chapter 
2d,  that  there  was  a  previous  stone  age,  in  which  "flint, 
pearls  or  shell  beads,  and  stream-gold"  were  the  chief  treas- 
ures of  man,  for  this  is  implied  in  the  "gold,  bedolach,  and 
onyx"  of  the  land  of  Havilah.  It  is  certain  also,  from  the 
discoveries  made  in  Assyria,  on  the  site  of  Troy,  and  else- 
where, that  the  use  of  stone  implements  continued  in  Western 
Asia  long  after  the  deluge.  In  the  time  of  Noah  the  distinc- 
tion of  clean  and  unclean  beasts,  and  the  taking  of  seven 
pairs  of  certain  beasts  and  birds  into  the  ark,  imply  that 
certain  mammals  and  birds  were  domesticated.* 

2.  Before  the  flood,  as  already  remarked,  there  was  a  divis- 
ion of  man  into  two  nationalities  or  races ;  and  there  was  a 
citizen,  an  agricultural,  a  pastoral,  and  a  nomadic  population. 
Farther,  the  remarkable  progress  in  the  arts  implied  in  the 
building  of  such  structures  as  the  Tower  of  Babel,  and  other 
temple  and  palace  mounds  in  Assyria,  and  of  the  pyramids 


*  Genesis  4th,  5th,  6th,  and  7th  chapters.     See  also  our  previous  re- 
marks on  the  deluge. 

M 


266  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

of  Egypt,  \Yithin  a  few  generations  after  the  deluge,  proves 
that  a  very  advanced  material  civilization  and  great  skill  in 
constructive  arts  had  been  reached  in  antediluvian  times.* 

3.  After  the  deluge,  the  arts  of  the  antediluvians  and  their 
citizen  life  were  almost  immediately  revived  in  the  plain  of 
Shinar;  but  the  plans  of  the  Babel  leaders,  like  those  of 
many  others  who  have  attempted  to  force  distinct  tribes 
into  one  nationality,  failed.  The  guilt  attributed  to  them 
probably  relates  to  the  attempt  to  break  up  the  patriarchal 
and  tribal  organization,  which  in  these  early  times  was  the 
outward  form  of  true  religion,  in  favor  of  some  sort  of  national 
organization,  not  compatible  with  the  extension  of  man  im- 
mediately over  the  world,  and  tending  to  consolidation  into 
dense  communities.  It  may  be  a  question  here  whether  the 
tribal  communism  which  has  prevailed  among  the  American 
Indians  and  other  rude  races  was  the  primitive  form  of  soci- 
ety which  the  Babel-builders  essayed  to  change,  or  whether 
the  Semitic  patriarchal  system  had  at  first  prevailed,  and  the 
Babel  difficulties  were  connected  with  a  conflict  between  this 
and  communism  or  despotism,  both  new  Turanian  or  Aryan 
introductions.  In  any  case,  Babel,  and  Babylon  its  successor, 
remain  in  the  subsequent  Biblical  literature  as  types  of  the 
God-defying  and  antichristian  systems  that  have  succeeded 
each  other  from  the  time  of  Nimrod  to  this  day. 

4.  The  human  race  was  scattered  over  the  earth  in  family 
groups  or  tribes,  each  headed  by  a  leading  patriarch,  who 
gave  it  its  name.  First,  the  three  sons  of  Noah  formed  three 
main  stems,  and  from  these  diverged  several  family  branches. 
The  ethnological  chart  in  the  loth  chapter  of  Genesis  gives 
the  principal  branches  under  patriarchal  and  ethnic  names ; 


*  Genesis  iv. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  267 

but  these,  of  course,  continued  to  subdivide  beyond  the  space 
and  time  referred  to  by  the  sacred  writer.  It  is  simply  absurd 
to  object,  as  some  writers  have  done,  to  the  universahty  of 
the  statements  in  Genesis,  that  they  do  not  mention  in  detail 
the  whole  earth.  They  refer  to  a  few  generations  only,  and 
beyond  this  restrict  themselves  to  the  one  branch  of  the  hu- 
man family  to  which  the  Bible  principally  relates.  We  should 
be  thankful  for  so  much  of  the  leading  lines  of  ethnological 
divergence,  without  complaining  that  it  is  not  followed  out 
into  its  minute  ramifications  and  into  all  history. 

5.  The  tripartite  division  in  Genesis  x.  indicates  a  some- 
what strict  geographical  separation  of  the  three  main  trunks. 
The  regions  marked  out  for  Japheth  include  Europe  and  North- 
western Asia.  The  name  Japheth,  as  well  as  the  statements 
in  the  table,  indicate  a  versatile,  nomadic,  and  colonizing  dis- 
position as  characteristic  of  these  tribes.*  The  Median  popula- 
tion, the  same  with  a  portion  of  that  now  often  called  Aryan, t 
was  the  only  branch  remaining  near  the  original  seats  of  the 
species,  and  in  a  settled  condition.  The  outlying  portions 
of  the  posterity  of  Japheth,  on  account  of  their  wide  dispersion, 
must  at  a  very  early  period  have  fallen  into  comparative  bar- 

*  Japheth  is  "enlargement,"  his  sons  are  Scythians  and  inhabitants  of 
the  isles,  varying  in  language  and  nationality;  and  Noah  predicts,  "God 
shall  enlarge  Japheth,  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,  Ham  shall  be 
his  servant."  These  are  surely  characteristic  ethnological  traits  for  a  pe- 
riod so  early.  On  the  rationalist  view,  it  may  be  supposed  that  this  pre- 
diction was  not  written  until  the  characters  in  question  had  developed 
themselves;  but  since  the  greatest  enlargement  of  Japheth  has  occurred 
since  the  discovery  of  America,  there  would  be  quite  as  good  ground  for 
maintaining  that  Noah's  prophecy  was  interpolated  after  the  time  of  Co- 
lumbus. 

t  The  language  of  this  people,  the  stem  of  the  Indo-European  languages, 
is,  though  in  a  later  form,  probably  that  of  the  Aryan  or  Persepolitan  part 
of  the  trilingual  inscriptions  at  Behistun  and  elsewhere  in  Persia. 


268  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

barism,  such  as  we  find  in  historic  periods  all  over  Western 
and  Northern  Europe  and  Northern  Asia.  Owing  to  their 
habitat,  the  Japhetites  of  the  Bible  include  none  of  the  black 
races,  unless  certain  Indian  and  Australian  nations  are  out- 
lying portions  of  this  family.  The  Shemite  nations  showed 
little  tendency  to  migrate,  being  grouped  about  the  Euphrates 
and  Tigris  valleys  and  neighboring  regions.  For  this  reason, 
with  the  exception  of  certain  Arab  tribes,  they  present  no  in- 
stances of  barbarism,  and  generally  retained  a  high  cerebral 
organization,  and  respectable  though  stationary  civilization, 
and  they  possess  the  oldest  alphabet  and  literature.  The 
posterity  of  Ham  differs  remarkably  from  the  others.  It  spread 
itself  over  Southern,  Central,  and  Eastern  Asia,  Southern  Eu- 
rope, and  Northern  Africa,  and  constitutes  the  stock  alike  of 
the  Turanian  and  African  races,  as  well  as  probably  of  the 
American  tribes.  It  has  all  along  displayed  a  great  capacity 
for  certain  forms  of  art  and  semi-civilization,  but  has  rarely 
risen  to  the  level  of  the  Shemite  and  Japhetite  races.  It  es- 
tablished the  earliest  military  and  monarchical  institutions, 
and  presents  at  the  dawn  of  history — in  Assyria,  in  Egypt,  and 
India — settled  and  arbitrary  forms  in  politics  and  religion,  of  a 
character  so  much  resembling  that  of  an  old  and  corrupt  civil- 
ization that  we  can  scarcely  avoid  supposing  that  Ham  and  his 
family  had  preserved  more  than  any  of  the  other  Noachian 
races  the  arts  and  institutions  of  the  old  world  before  the 
flood.  It  certainly  presents  itself  in  early  postdiluvian  times 
as  the  first  representative  and  teacher  of  art  and  material 
civilization.  The  Hamite  race  is  remarkable  for  the  early 
development  of  pantheism  and  hero-worship,  and  for  the  arti- 
ficial character  of  its  culture.  It  presents  us  with  the  dark- 
est colors,  and  in  the  vast  solitudes  of  Africa  and  Central 
Asia  its  outlying  tribes  must  have  fallen  into  comparative 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  269 

barbarism  a  few  centuries  after  the  deluge.  It  is  farther  to 
be  observed  that,  according  to  the  Bible,  the  Canaanites  and 
other  Hamite  nations  spoke  languages  not  essentially  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  Shemites,  while  the  Japhetite  nations 
were  to  them  barbarians — '"'a  nation  whose  tongue  thou  shalt 
not  understand."  There  was,  too,  at  the  date  of  the  disper- 
sion of  Babel,  already  a  distinction  of  tongues  within  each 
of  the  great  races  of  men. 

6.  All  the  divisions  of  the  family  of  Noah  had  from  the  first 
the  domesticated  animals  and  the  principal  arts  of  life,  and 
enjoyed  these  in  a  national  capacity  so  soon  as  sufficiently 
numerous.  The  more  scattered  tribes,  wandering  into  fresh 
regions,  and  adopting  the  life  of  hunters,  lost  the  character- 
istics of  civilization,  and  diverged  widely  from  the  primitive 
languages.  We  should  thus  have,  according  to  the  Hebrew 
ethnology,  a  central  area  presenting  the  principal  stems  of  all 
the  three  races  in  a  permanently  civilized  state.  All  around 
this  area  should  lie  aberrant  and  often  barbarous  tribes,  dif- 
fering most  widely  from  the  original  type  in  the  more  distant 
regions,  and  in  those  least  favorable  to  human  health  and 
subsistence.  In  these  outlying  regions,  secondary  centres  of 
civilization  might  grow  up,  differing  from  that  of  the  primitive 
centre,  except  in  so  far  as  the  common  principles  of  human 
nature  and  intercommunication  might  prevent  this.  All  these 
conclusions,  fairly  deducible  at  once  from  the  Mosaic  ethnol- 
ogy and  the  theory  of  dispersion  from  a  centre,  are  perfectly 
in  accordance  with  observed  facts,  though  in  absolute  contra- 
diction to  prevalent  ethnological  conclusions,  based  on  these 
facts  in  connection  with  theories  of  development. 

A  multitude  of  Bible  notices  might  easily  be  quoted  illus- 
trative of  these  points,  and  also  of  the  consistency  of  the  Mo- 
saic narrative  with  itself.     One  of  them  may  suffice  here. 


2/0  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Abraham,  who  is  said  by  the  Jews  to  have  been  contempo- 
rary with  Shem,  as  Menes  by  the  Egyptians  witli  Ham,  at 
least  hved  sufficiently  near  to  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the 
earliest  nations  to  be  taken  as  an  illustration  of  this  primi- 
tive condition  of  society.  He  was  not  a  patriarch  of  the  first 
or  second  rank,  like  Ham  or  Mizraim  or  Canaan,  but  a  subor- 
dinate family  leader  several  removes  from  the  survivors  of  the 
deluge.  Yet  his  tribe  increases  in  comparatively  few  years 
to  a  considerable  number.  He  is  treated  as  an  equal  by  the 
monarchs  of  Egypt  and  Philistia.  He  defeats,  with  a  band 
of  three  or  four  hundred  retainers,  a  confederacy  of  four  Eu- 
phratean  kings  representing  the  embryo  state  of  the  Persian 
and  Assyrian  empires,  and  already  relatively  so  strong  that 
they  have  overrun  much  of  Western  Asia.  All  this  bespeaks 
in  a  most  consistent  manner  the  rapid  rise  of  many  small 
nationalities,  scattered  over  the  better  parts  of  wide  regions, 
and  still  in  a  feeble  condition,  tliough  inheriting  from  their 
ancestors  an  old  civilization,  and  laying  the  foundations  of 
powerful  states.  If  we  attach  any  historical  value  what- 
ever to  the  narrative,  it  obviously  implies  that  at  a  date  of 
about  two  thousand  years  before  Christ  the  regions  after- 
ward occupied  by  the  oldest  historic  empires  were  still  thin- 
ly peopled,  and  their  dominant  races  little  more  than  feeble 
tribes.  This  farther  corresponds  with  the  authentic  history 
of  all  the  ancient  nations,  however  these  may  have  been  ex- 
tended by  previous  mythical  periods.  About  or  shortly  be- 
fore the  time  of  Abraham,  Menes  was  draining  for  the  first 
time  the  swamps  of  Egypt,  Ninus  or  Nimrod  was  founding 
the  Assyrian  empire,  the  Phoenicians  were  founding  Sidon, 
agriculture  was  being  introduced  into  China,  the  Vedas  were 
being  written  in  India,  the  Persian  monarchy  was  being 
founded ;  and,  in  short,  all  the  historical  nations  of  the  East 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  271 

were  originating,  and  this  apparently  by  springing  into  being 
with  an  already  formed  civilization. 

Such  being  the  Hebrew  account  of  the  date  and  early  his- 
tory of  man,  it  may  be  proper  here  to  compare  it  with  such 
deductions  from  archaeological  and  geological  investigation 
as  may  seem  to  conflict  with  it,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make 
some  comparisons  with  the  Turanian  and  Aryan  traditions 
and  speculations  as  to  human  origins.  The  special  lines  of 
investigation  important  here  are  :  i.  Early  historical  records 
other  than  the  Bible;  2.  The  diversity  of  human  languages; 
3.  The  geological  evidence  afforded  by  remains  of  prehistoric 
men  found  in  caverns  and  other  repositories.  The  last  of 
these  is  at  present  that  which  has  attained  the  greatest  de- 
velopment. 

I.  Early  Hmjia7i  History. — Had  the  human  race  every- 
where preserved  historical  records,  we  should  have  had  some 
certain  evidence  as  to  the  places  and  times  of  origination  of 
its  tribes  and  peoples.  Unfortunately  this  has  not  been  the 
case.  All  savage  and  barbarous  races,  and  many  of  those 
now  civilized,  have  lost  all  records  of  their  early  history. 
Most  of  the  so-called  ancient  nations  are  comparatively 
modern,  and  their  history  after  a  very  short  course  loses  it- 
self in  uncertain  tradition  and  mythical  fancies.  The  only 
really  ancient  nations  that  have  given  us  in  detail  their  own 
written  history  are  the  Hebrews,  the  Assyrians,  the  Egyptians, 
the  Hindoos,  and  the  Chinese.  The  last  people,  though  pro- 
fessedly very  ancient,  trace  their  history  from  a  period  of 
barbarism — a  view  confirmed  by  their  physical  characters, 
and  the  nature  of  their  civilization ;  and  on  this  account,  if 
no  other,  their  history  can  not  be  considered  as  of  much 
archaeological  value.  According  to  their  own  records,  their 
earliest  authentic  history  goes  back  to  about  2800  B.C.,  and 


272  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

was  preceded  by  a  prehistoric  period  of  uncertain  duration. 
The  astronomical  deductions  of  Schlegel,  which  would  extend 
their  history  to  17,000  years,  are  evidently  altogether  unre- 
liable.* The  early  Hindoo  history  is  palpably  fabulous  or 
distorted,  and  has  been  variously  modilied  and  changed  in 
comparatively  modern  times.  There  is  one  great  and  very 
ancient  people — the  Egyptian — evidently  civilized  from  the 
beginning  of  all  history,  that  have  succeeded  in  transmitting 
to  us,  though  only  in  fragments,  their  primeval  history ;  and 
of  late  years  constant  additions  have  been  made  from  in- 
scribed tablets  and  monuments  to  our  knowledge  of  the  an- 
cient history  of  the  Assyrians  and  Chaldeans. 

The  Egyptian  history  has  been  gathered  first  from  sketches 
by  Greek  travellers,  and  from  fragments  of  the  chronicles  of 
Manetho,  one  of  the  later  Egyptian  priests ;  and,  secondly, 
from  the  inscriptions  deciphered  on  Egyptian  monuments 
and  papyri.  It  is  still  in  a  very  fragmentary  and  uncertain 
state,  but  has  been  used  with  considerable  effect  to  prove 
both  the  diversity  of  races  of  men  and  the  pre-Noachic  antiq- 
uity of  the  species.  The  Egyptian,  in  features  and  physical 
conformation,  tended  to  the  European  form,  just  as  the  mod- 
ern Fellahs  and  Berbers  do ;  but  he  had  a  dark  complexion, 
a  somewhat  elongated  head  and  flattened  lips,  and  certain 
negroid  peculiarities  in  his  limbs.  His  language  combined 
many  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Semitic,  Aryan,  and  African 
tongues,  indicating  thereby  great  antiquity  or  else  great  inter- 
mixture, but  not,  as  some  ethnographers  demand, both;  most 
probably  the  former — the  Egyptians  being  really  the  oldest 
civilized  people  that  we  certainly  know,  and  therefore,  if  lan- 
guages have  one  opigin,  likely  to  be  near  its  root-stock. 

*  Edkins,  "  China's  Place  in  Philology." 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  273 

The  actual  history  of  Egypt  beghis  from  Menes,  the  first 
human  king,  a  monarch,  or  rather  tribal  chief,  who  took  up 
his  abode  in  the  flats  and  fens  of  Lower  Egypt,  certainly  not 
very  long  after  the  deluge.  His  name  has  been  translated 
"one  who  walks  with  Khem,"  or  Ham;  one,  therefore,  who 
was  contemporary  with  this  great  patriarch  and  god  of  the 
Egyptians,  which  will  place  his  time  within  a  few  centuries 
of  the  Biblical  flood.  The  date  of  IMenes  has  been  various- 
ly placed.  In  correction  of  the  ordinary  Hebrew  chronology, 
we  have  the  following  attempts  : 

Josephus  places  his  reign 2350  B.C. 

Dr.  Hales'  calculation 2412 

Manetho  and  the  Monuments,  as  corrected  by  Syn-  (  '^^^ 

cellus  and  calculated  by  various  archgeolocrists.. .  ) 

^  2782 

Herodotus,  astronomical  reduction  by  Rennell 2890 

Estimate  by  Gliddon  in  "  Ancient  Egypt " 2750 

Bunsen,  "  Egypt's  Place,"  etc 4000 

The  truth  may  be  somewhere  near  the  mean  of  the  shorter 
chronologies  given  in  the  list*  That  of  Bunsen  is  liable  to 
very  grave  objections  ;  more  especially  as  he  adds  to  it  other 
views,  altogether  unsupported  by  historical  evidence,  which 
would  carry  back  the  deluge  to  10,000  years  B.C.  It  rests 
wholly  on  the  chronology  of  Manetho,  who  lived  300  years 
B.C. ;  and  who,  even  if  the  Egyptians  then  possessed  authen- 
tic documents  extending  3700  years  before  his  time,  may 
have  erred  in  his  rendering  of  them  ;  and  is  farther  liable  to 
grave  suspicions  of  having  merely  grouped  the  names  on  the 
monuments  of  his  country  arbitrarily  in  Sothic  cycles.     Far- 


*  Reginald  S.  Poole  has  adduced  very  ingenious  arguments,  monumen- 
tal, astronomical,  and  mythological,  for  the  date  B.C.  2717. 

M  2 


2/4  ^^i^  Origin  of  the   World, 

tlier,  they  rest  on  an  interpretation  of  Manetho,  which  sup- 
poses his  early  dynasties  to  have  been  successive,  while  good 
reasons  have  been  found  to  prove  that  many  of  them  consist 
of  contemporaneous  petty  sovereigns  of  parts  of  Egypt.  The 
early  parts  of  Manetho's  lists  are  purely  mythical,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  the  point  where  his  authentic  history  com- 
mences. He  copied  from  monuments  which  have  no  consec- 
utive dates,  the  precise  age  of  which  could  only  be  vaguely 
known  even  in  his  time,  and  w^iich  are  different  in  their  state- 
ments in  different  localities.  It  is  only  by  making  due  allow- 
ance for  these  uncertainties  that  any  historical  value  can  be 
attached  to  these  earlier  dynasties  of  Manetho.  Yet  Bunsen 
has  built  on  an  uncertain  interpretation  of  this  writer,  as 
handed  down  in  a  very  fragmentary  and  evidently  garbled  con- 
dition, and  on  the  equally  or  more  uncertain  chronology  of  Era- 
tosthenes, a  system  differing  from  all  previous  belief  on  the  sub- 
ject, from  the  Hebrew  history,  and  from  all  former  interpre- 
tations of  the  monuments  and  Manetho.*     Discarding,  there- 


*  It  is  curious  that  almost  simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  Bun- 
sen's  scheme  a  similiar  view  was  attempted  to  be  maintained  on  geolog- 
ical grounds.  In  a  series  of  borings  in  the  delta  of  the  Nile,  undertaken 
by  Mr,  Horner,  there  was  found  a  piece  of  pottery  at  a  depth  which  ap- 
peared to  indicate  an  antiquity  of  13,371  years.  But  the  basis  of  the  cal- 
culation is  the  rate  of  deposit  (3!^  inches  per  century)  calculated  for  the 
ground  around  the  statue  of  Rameses  II.  at  Memphis,  dated  at  1361  B.C.; 
and  Mr.Sharpe  has  objected  that  no  mud  could  have  been  deposited  around 
that  statue  from  its  erection  until  the  destruction  of  Memphis,  perhaps  8co 
years  B.C.  Farther,  we  have  to  take  into  account  the  natural  or  artificial 
changes  of  the  river's  bed,  which  in  this  very  place  is  said  to  have  been  di- 
verted from  its  course  by  Menes,  and  which  near  Cairo  is  now  nearly  a  mile 
from  its  former  site.  The  liability  to  error  and  fraud  in  boring  operations 
is  also  very  well  known.  It  has  farther  been  suggested  that  the  deep 
cracks  which  form  in  the  soil  of  Egypt,  and  the  sinking  of  wells  in  ancient 
times,  are  other  probable  causes  of  error  ;  and  it  is  stated  that  pieces  of 
burnt  brick,  which  was  not  in  use  in  Egypt  until  the  Roman  times,  have 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  275 

fore,  in  the  mean  time,  this  date,  and  the  still  older  one 
claimed  by  Mariette,*  we  may  roughly  estimate  the  date  of 
Menes  as  2000  to  2500  years  B.C.,t  and  proceed  to  state 
some  of  the  facts  developed  by  Egyptologists. 

One  of  the  most  striking  of  these  is  the  proof  that  Egypt 
was  a  new  country  in  the  days  of  Menes  and  several  genera- 
tions of  his  successors.  The  monuments  of  this  period  show 
little  of  the  complicated  idolatry,  ritual,  and  caste  system 
of  later  times,  and  are  deficient  in  evidence  of  the  refinement 
and  variety  of  aft  afterward  attained.  They  also  show  that 
these  early  monarchs  were  principally  engaged  in  dyking,  and 
otherwise  reclaiming  the  alluvial  flats ;  an  evidence  precisely 
of  the  same  character  with  that  which  every  traveller  sees  in 
the  more  recently  settled  districts  of  Canada,  where  the  forest 
is  giving  way  to  the  exertions  of  the  farmer.  Farther,  in  this 
primitive  period,  known  as  the  "old  monarchy,"  few  domestic 
animals  appear,  and  experiments  seem  to  have  been  in  prog- 
ress to  tame  others,  natives  of  the  country,  as  the  hyena,  the 
antelope,  the  stork.  Even  the  dog  in  the  older  dynasties  is 
represented  by  one  or  at  most  two  varieties,  and  the  prevalent 
one  is  a  wolfish-looking  animal  akin  to  the  present  wild  or 

been  found  at  even  greater  depths  than  the  pottery  referred  to  by  Mr. 
Horner.  This  discovery,  at  first  sight  so  startling,  and  vouched  for  by  a 
geologist  of  unquestioned  honor  and  abilit}',  is  thus  open  to  the  same 
doubts  with  the  Guadaloupe  skeletons,  the  human  bones  in  ossiferous 
caverns,  and  that  found  in  the  mud  of  the  Mississippi ;  all  of  which  have, 
on  examination,  proved  of  no  value  as  proofs  of  the  geological  antiquity 
of  man. 

*  5004  B.C. 

t  Perhaps  the  earliest  certain  date  in  Egyptian  history  is  that  of  Thoth- 
mes  III.  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  ascertained  by  Birch  on  astronomical 
evidence  as  about  1445  ^-C.  (about  1600,  Manetho);  and  it  seems  nearly 
certain  that  before  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  of  which  this  king  was  the  fifth 
sovereign,  there  was  no  settled  general  government  over  all  Egj'pt. 


2/6  TJie  Origin  of  the   World. 

half-tamed  dogs  of  the  East*  The  Egyptians,  too,  of  the  ear- 
lier dynasties,  are  more  homogeneous  in  their  appearance 
than  those  of  the  later,  after  conquest  and  migration  had  in- 
troduced new  races  \  and  the  earliest  monumental  notice  re- 
ferring to  Negro  tribes  does  not  appear  until  the  12th  dynasty, 
about  half-way  between  the  epoch  of  Menes  and  the  Christian 
era,  nor  does  any  representation  of  the  Negro  features  occur 
until,  at  the  earliest,  the  17th  dynasty.  This  allows  ample 
time — one  thousand  years  at  the  least — for  the  development, 
under  abnormal  circumstances  and  isolatiort,  of  all  the  most 
strongly  marked  varieties  of  man.  Still  Egypt,  even  under  the 
old  monarchy,  presents  evidence  of  the  continuation  of  ante- 
diluvian culture.f 

It  is  obvious,  in  short,  that  the  whole  aspect  of  early  Egyp- 
tian history  presents  to  us  a  people  already  civilized  taking 
possession  of  that  country  at  a  period  corresponding  with  that 
of  the  subsidence  of  the  Noachian  deluge,  and  not  finding  there 
any  remains  of  older  populations.  Nor  have  any  remains  of 
such  populations  been  found  by  modern  investigation.  % 

In  Assyria  the  results  of  the  recent  discoveries,  so  well 
known  through  many  learned  and  popular  works,  strikingly 
confirm  the  Hebrew  chronolog}'.    They  indicate  no  slow^  emer- 

*  The  Egyptians  seem,  like  our  modern  cattle-breeders,  to  have  taken 
pride  in  the  initiation  and  preservation  of  varieties.  Their  sacred  bull, 
Apis,  was  required  to  represent  one  of  the  varieties  of  the  ox ;  and  one 
can  scarcely  avoid  believing  that  some  of  their  deified  ancestors  must 
have  earned  their  celebrity  as  tamers  or  breeders  of  animals.  At  a  later 
period,  the  experiments  of  Jacob  with  Laban's  flock  furnish  a  curious  in- 
stance of  attempts  to  induce  variation. 

t  See  for  evidence  of  these  views  early  notices  in  Genesis,  and  Lenor- 
mant  and  Osburne  on  Egyptian  Monuments  and  History. 

X  There  is  no  good  reason  to  believe  the  flint  implements  mentioned  by 
Delanoiie  and  others,  as  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  to  be  older  than 
the  historic  period. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  277 

gence  from  barbarism,  but  show  that  in  Assyria  as  in  Egypt 
implements  of  stone  and  metal  were  used  together  by  a  primi- 
tive people,  already  far  advanced  in  civilization ;  and  the  oldest 
historical  names  only  carry  us  back  to  cities  and  sovereigns 
of  the  Abrahamic  age,  while  the  story  of  the  primitive  empire 
of  Nimrod  and  the  traditions  of  the  deluge  seem  to  have  sur- 
vived in  more  or  less  mythical  legends.  The  earliest  Assyr- 
ian monuments  would  seem  to  belong  to  a  Turanian  race,  of 
which  comparatively  little  is  known,  but  which  may  correspond 
with  the  primitive  Cushites  of  Biblical  story.  To  these,  it  is 
true,  Berosus  attaches  a  fabulous  antiquity;  but  this  is  not 
confirmed  by  the  monuments.  These,  according  to  the  latest 
facts  disclosed  by  Smith,  Rawlinson,  and  others,  appear  to  fix 
a  date  of  about  1800  B.C.  for  the  foundation  of  the  Assyrian 
monarchy  proper,  and  the  oldest  previous  date  given  by  Assur- 
bampal,  who  reigned  about  B.C.  668  to  626,  gives  1635  years 
before  his  time,  or  say  2280  B.C.,  as  the  date  of  an  Elamite 
king  Kudarnankundi,  who  seems  to  be  the  leader  of  a  prim- 
itive tribe,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  region,  and  who  has  been 
conjectured  to  have  been  the  Chedorlaomer  of  Genesis,  but 
was  probably  one  of  his  predecessors. 
•  We  gather  from  the  Assyrian  annals  that  the  early  Turanian 
kings,  while  mound-builders  like  their  kindred  elsewhere,  and 
acquainted  with  metals  and  with  the  cuneiform  writing,  yet 
constituted  comparatively  small  nations,  and  were  much  oc- 
cupied with  hunting  and  other  rude  sports,  and  with  predatory 
expeditions,  so  as  to  answer  very  nearly  to  the  Biblical  con- 
ception of  the  early  Cushite  kingdom  of  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates,  which  was  probably  in  the  same  stage  of  culture 
with  the  nations  that  in  a  later  period  inhabited  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  are  known  as  the  Alleghans. 

In  connection  with  the  early  history  of  man,  much  impor- 


2/8  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

tance  has  been  attached  to  the  division  of  the  early  historic 
and  prehistoric  ages  into  the  periods  of  Stone,  Bronze,  and 
Iron,  and  of  the  former  into  a  Palaeolithic  or  ancient  stone  age, 
and  a  more  modern  or  Neolithic  stone  age.  It  is  plain,  how- 
ever, that  too  great  importance  has  been  attached  to  these 
distinctions,  and  that  they  express  rather  differences  of  cir- 
cumstances and  of  culture  than  of  age,  so  that  they  have 
really  no  bearing  on  the  Biblical  chronology. 

If  palaeolithic  or  rudely  chipped  implements  are  the  oldest 
known,  as  they  not  improbably  were  the  first  tools  used  by 
man,  yet  their  use  has  extended  in  the  case  of  rude  nations 
all  the  way  up  to  the  present  time ;  and  in  America  and  North- 
ern Asia  we  know  that  their  antiquity  is  but  of  yesterday,  and 
that  they  were  used  with  highly  finished  implements  of  bone, 
and  of  those  softer  stones  that  admit  of  being  polished.  No 
certain  line  can  therefore  be  drawn  even  locally  between  a 
Neolithic  and  a  Palaeolithic  period,  especially  since  in  localities 
where  flint  implements  were  extensively  quarried  and  made, 
as  on  the  banks  of  rivers  in  Northern  France  and  Southern 
England, and  in  such  places  as  "Grimes'  Graves"  and  Cissbury 
in  the  latter  country,  where  mines  were  sunk  in  the  chalk  for 
the  extraction  of  flints,  it  necessarily  happened  that  vast  mul- 
titudes of  unfinished  or  spoiled  implements  and  weapons  were 
left  on  the  ground,  while  the  better -formed  specimens  were 
for  the  most  part  taken  away.  This  conclusion  is  amply  sup- 
ported by  similar  localities  in  America,  where  people  well  ac- 
quainted with  many  of  the  arts  of  life  have  left  quantities  of 
strictly  palceolithic  material.  Wilson,  Southall,  and  other  writ- 
ers have  accumulated  so  many  examples  of  this  that  I  think 
the  distinction  of  Palaeolithic  and  Neolithic  ages  must  now  be 
given  up  by  all  investigators  who  possess  ordinary  judgment. 
A  remarkable  instance  is  the  celebrated  "Flint  ridge"  of 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  279 

Ohio,  \vhicli  was  a  great  quarry  of  flint  for  implements  used 
by  the  ancient  mound-builders,  a  highly  civilized  race,  as  well 
as  by  the  modern  Indians.  Here  are  found  countless  multi- 
tudes of  palaeolithic  flint  implements  of  all  the  ordinary  types, 
but  which  are  merely  the  unfinished  material  of  workers  ca- 
pable of  producing  the  most  exquisite  implements.  There  can 
be  scarcely  a  doubt  that  the  palaeolithic  implements  of  the  Eu- 
ropean gravels,  in  so  far  as  they  are  the  workmanship  of  man, 
are  in  like  manner  merely  the  relics  of  old  flint  quarries.* 

Possibly  a  more  accurate  measurement  of  time  for  particu- 
lar regions  of  the  world  might  be  deduced  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  bronze  and  iron.  If  the  former  was,  as  many  antiqua- 
rians suppose,  a  local  discovery  in  Europe,  and  not  introduced 
from  abroad,  it  can  give  no  measurement  of  time  whatever. 
In  America,  as  the  facts  detailed  by  Dr.  Wilson  show,  while 
a  bronze  age  existed  in  Peru,  it  was  the  copper  age  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  stone  age  elsewhere;  and  these 
conditions  might  have  co-existed  for  any  length  of  time,  and 
could  give  no  indication  of  relative  dates.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  iron  introduced  by  European  commerce  spread  at  once 
over  the  continent,  and  came  into  use  in  the  most  remote 
tribes,  and  its  introduction  into  America  clearly  marks  an 
historical  epoch.  With  regard  to  bronze  in  Europe,  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  tin  was  to  be  procured  only  in  England  and 
Spain,  and  in  the  latter  in  very  small  quantity;  the  mines  of 
Saxony  do  not  seem  to  have  been  known  till  the  Middle  Ages. 
We  must  further  consider  that  tin  ore  is  a  substance  not  me- 
tallic in  appearance,  and  little  likely  to  attract  the  attention 
of  savages;  and  that,  as  we  gather  from  a  hint  of  Plin}^,  it  was 
probably  first  observed,  in  the  West  at  least,  as  stream  tin,  in 


*  Wilson,  "  Prehistoric  Man,"  2d  edition,  p.  68. 


28o  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  Spanish  gold  washings.  Lastly,  when  we  place  in  con- 
nection with  these  considerations  the  fact  that  in  the  earliest 
times  of  which  we  have  certain  knowledge,  the  tin  trade  of 
Spain  and  England  was  monopolized  by  the  Phoenicians,  there 
seems  to  be  a  strong  probability  that  the  extension  of  the  trade 
of  this  nation  to  the  western  Mediterranean  really  inaugurated 
the  bronze  period.  The  only  valid  argument  against  this  is  the 
fact  that  moulds  and  other  indications  of  native  bronze  cast- 
ing have  been  found  in  Switzerland,  Denmark,  and  elsewhere ; 
but  these  show  nothing  more  than  that  the  natives  could  re- 
cast bronze  articles,  just  as  the  American  Indians  can  forge 
fish-hooks  and  knives  out  of  nails  and  iron  hoops.  Other 
considerations  might  be  adduced  in  proof  of  this  view,  but 
our  limits  will  not  jDermit  us  to  refer  to  them.  The  important 
questions  still  remain :  When  was  this  trade  commenced,  and 
how  rapidly  did  it  extend  itself  from  the  sea-coast  across  Eu- 
rope ?  The  British  tin  trade  must  have  been  in  existence  in 
the  time  of  Herodotus,  though  his  notion  of  the  locality  was 
not  more  definite  than  that  it  was  in  the  extremity  of  the 
earth.  The  Phoenician  settlements  in  the  western  Mediter- 
ranean must  have  existed  as  early  as  the  time  of  Solomon, 
when  "ships  of  Tarshish"  was  the  general  designation  of  sea- 
going ships  for  long  voyages.  How  long  previously  these  col- 
onies existed  we  do  not  know;  but  considering  the  great  scar- 
city and  value  of  tin  in  those  very  ancient  times,  we  may  infer 
that  perhaps  only  the  Spanish,  and  not  the  British  deposits  were 
known  thus  early ;  or  that  the  Phoenicians  had  only  indirect 
access  to  the  latter.  Perhaps  we  may  fix  the  time  when  these 
traders  were  able  to  supply  the  nations  of  Europe  with  abun- 
dance of  bronze  in  exchange  for  their  products,  at,  say  looo  to 
I200  B.C.,  as  the  earliest  probable  period;  and  possibly  from 
one  to  two  centuries  would  be  a  sufficient  allowance  for  the 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  281 

complete  penetration  of  the  trade  throughout  Europe.  But 
of  course  wars  or  migrations  might  retard  or  accelerate  the 
process;  and  there  may  have  been  isolated  spots  in  which  a 
partial  stone  period  extended  up  to  those  comparatively  re- 
cent times  in  which  first  the  Greek  trade,  and  afterward  the 
entire  overthrow  of  the  Carthaginian  power  by  the  Romans, 
terminated  forever  the  age  of  bronze  and  substituted  the  age 
of  iron.  This  would  leave,  according  to  our  ordinary  chro- 
nologies, at  least  ten  or  fifteen  centuries  for  the  postdiluvian 
stone  period  in  Europe  and  Western  Asia,  a  time  quite  suf- 
ficient in  our  view  for  all  that  part  of  it  represented  by  such 
monuments  as  the  Danish  shell-heaps  or  the  platform  habi- 
tations of  the  Swiss  lakes ;  leaving  the  remains  of  the  prehis- 
toric caverns  and  river  gravels  for  the  antediluvian  period. 
A  few  facts  in  illustration  of  these  points,  and  also  of  the 
Biblical  history,  may  be  mentioned  here. 

We  know  perfectly  that  the  early  Chaldeans  of  the  Euphra- 
tean  valley  were  acquainted  with  the  use  of  metals — bronze 
certainly,  and  at  a  very  early  date  iron;  yet  flint  knives  and 
other  implements  of  stone  are  found  under  circumstances 
which  show  that  they  were  used  in  the  palmy  days  of  the 
Assyrian  empire.  The  inhabitants  of  Egypt  were  acquainted 
with  bronze  and  iron  long  before  the  date  of  the  Exodus,  yet 
the  Egyptians  used  stone  knives  for  some  purposes  up  to  a 
comparatively  modern  time.  Joshua  used  stone  knives  for 
the  purpose  of  circumcision;  and  according  to  Herodotus 
there  were  Ethiopians  in  the  army  of  Xerxes  who  used  stone- 
tipped  arrows.  If  any  antiquarian  were  to  stumble  on  the 
"hill  of  the  foreskins  " — a  mound  under  which  were  buried  in 
all  probability  the  multitudinous  flint  flakes  used  in  the  cir- 
cumcision of  the  thousands  of  Israel— or  the  grave  in  which 
some  of  the  Ethiopian  auxiliaries  of  Xerxes  were  buried  with 


282  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

their  flint  arrow-heads  and  javelins  of  antelopes'  horn,  how 
absurd  would  be  the  inference  that  these  repositories  were 
of  the  palaeolithic  age.  Nay,  so  late  as  1870  a  traveller  was 
informed  that  the  'Bagos,  a  people  of  Abyssinia,  still  made 
and  used  stone  hatchets  and  flint  knives.* 

In  Europe  we  find  reason  to  believe  that  the  Ligurians  of 
Northwestern  Italy  were  flint-folk  of  very  rude  type  until  they 
were  conquered  by  the  Gauls  about  400  B.C.f  Though  the 
Gauls,  Britons,  and  Germans  of  the  age  of  Julius  Caesar  had 
iron  weapons,  yet  it  is  evident  that  the  metal  was  very  scarce, 
and  that  bronze  was  more  common  ;  and  in  confirmation  of 
this  it  is  found  that  in  the  trenches  before  Alize,  the  Alesia 
of  Cssar,  where  the  final  struggle  of  the  Roman  general  with 
Vercingetorix  took  place,  weapons  of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron 
are  intermixed.  All  over  the  more  northern  parts  of  Europe 
there  is  the  best  reason  to  believe  that  the  use  of  stone  and 
bronze  continued  to  a  much  later  period,  and  locally  until 
Ions:  after  the  Christian  era.  It  is  clear  that  such  facts  as 
these  must  greatly  modify  our  ideas  of  the  probable  age 
of  the  Swiss  lake  villages,  and  should  induce  the  greatest 
caution  in  claiming  any  special  antiquity  for  particular  classes 
of  implements. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  discoveries  of  modern  times 
is  that  of  the  site  of  ancient  Troy  by  Dr.  Schliemann,  and  it 
affords  clear  and  decisive  evidence  as  to  the  historic  value 
of  the  ages  to  which  we  have  referred. 

Troy  was  destroyed  by  the  Greeks  perhaps  about  1300 
B.C.,  and  we  know  from  Homer  that  this  was  in  what  for  the 


*  Southall  has  accumulated  a  great  number  of  these  facts  in  his  book 
on  the  antiquity  of  man. 

t  Professor  Issel,  quoted  in  Popular  Science  l\Tonthly, 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  283 

Greeks  and  Trojans  may  properly  be  termed  the  copper  age, 
weapons  and  armor  of  that  metal  being  in  common  use,  and 
also  the  mode  of  burial  by  cremation.  We  may  well  suppose 
that  at  that  early  date  the  stone  age  was  Still  in  full  force  in 
Northern  Europe  and  Asia,  and  in  the  mountains  of  Switzer- 
land ;  and  as  the  tin  mines  of  England  had  not  yet  been 
reached,  bronze  was  scarce  and  dear  even  in  Eastern  Europe 
and  Asia.  Now  Schliemann  has  disinterred  the  undoubted 
Trojan  Ilium  on  the  hill  of  Hissarlik  ;  but  he  finds  it  to  be 
only  one  of  several  buried  cities,  and  the  succession  of  strata 
will  be  most  clearly  seen  in  the  section  on  the  following 
page,  compiled  from  his  clear  and  circumstantial  descrip- 
tions. It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  presents  a  succession 
of  the  stone  age  to  one  of  comparatively  high  civilization.  It 
also  forms  an  epitome  of  that  of  the  whole  East,  and  of  primi-' 
tive  man  in  general,  in  some  very  important  respects.  We 
have  first,  at  a  date  probably  coeval  with  that  of  the  earliest 
monarchies  of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  a  primitive  people  whose 
arts  and  mode  of  life  remind  us  stron2:lv  of  the  American  Tol- 
tecans  and  Peruvians.*  Schliemann  supposes  them  to  have 
been  Aryan,  but  they  were  more  probably  of  Turanian  race. 
They  must  have  occupied  the  site  for  a  very  long  time. 
They  were  succeeded  by  a  more  cultivated  people  of  fine 
physical  organization,  yet  possibly  still  Turanians  or  primi- 
tive Aryans,  who  by  trade  or  plunder  had  accumulated  large 
stores  of  metallic  wealth,  and  had  made  advances  in  the  arts 
of  life  placing  them  on  a  level  with  the  early  Phoenicians  and 
Egyptians,  with  whom  they  probably  had  intercourse.     These 


*  Wilson  has  remarked  the  striking  similarity  of  the  pottery  of  these 
people  to  American  fictile  wares.  This  similarity  applies  also  to  the  early 
Cyprian  art. 


284 


The  Origin  of  the  World. 


Surface. 
Fifth  stratum  to  6i  feet - 

The  Greek  Ilium,  with  buildings  and 
objects  of  art  characteristic  of  the 
Hellenic  civilization  of  historic  pe- 
riods. 

Fourth  stratum  to  13  feet - 

A  second  barbarous  people,  but  prob- 
ably allied  to  the  first.  Very  coarse 
pottery.  Implements  and  ^Yeapons 
of  copper  or  bronze — stone  knives 
and  saws. 

Third  stratum  to  23  feet - 

Barbarous  people  occupying  the  site 
of  Troy.  Rude  stone  implements 
and  rude  pottery.  Buildings  of 
small  stones  and  clay.  Some  ob- 
jects of  pottery  found  here  would 
on  American  sites  be  regarded  as 
probably  tobacco-pipes. 

Second  stratum  to  33  feet - 

Homeric  Troy.  Implements  and 
weapons  of  copper,  bronze,  and 
stone.  Potterv,  some  of  it  of  Pe- 
ruvian  and  ancient  Cypriot  types. 
Fine  gold  jewelry,  and  gold  and 
silver  vessels.  Armor  similar  to 
that  described  by  Homer.  Stone 
buildings  and  walls.  This  city  had 
been  sacked  and  burned. 

• 

First  stratum  to  46  or  53  feet . . .  - 
Rock. 

Primitive  or  prehistoric  Troy.  Stone 
implements,  polished  and  chipped. 
INIillstones,  copper  nails,  pottery — 
some  with  patterns  curiously  resem- 
bling those  of  America — bone  im- 
plements, terra-cotta  disks.  Stone 
buildings. 

were  the  Trojans  of  the  Homeric  poems,  and  the  destruction 
of  their  city  was  probably  in  the  first  instance  celebrated  in 
th'eir  own  native  songs,  which  Homer  at  a  date  but  little  later* 
wove  into  his  magnificent  poem,  and  idealized  and  exaggerated. 
The  Trojans  worshipped  an  owl-headed  goddess — the  Athena 


*  I  agree  with  Gladstone's  conclusions  as  to  the  date  and  country  of 
Homer. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  285 

of  the  Homeric  poems  ;  and  from  symbols  found  are  believed 
also  to  have  had  the  worship  of  a  sacred  tree,  and  of  fire  or 
of  the  Sun.  All  of  these  are  widespread  superstitions  over 
both  the  Old  and  New  World.  But  while  Troy  flourished 
there  were  barbarous  nations  not  far  off  still  in  the  stone 
age  ;  and  when  the  city  had  fallen,  these,  possibly  in  succes- 
sive hordes,  took  possession  of  the  fertile  plain  and  used  the 
old  city  as  their  stronghold,  perhaps  till  the  foundation  of  the 
Greek  city  about  650  B.C.  I  have  sketched  in  some  detail 
these  interesting  discoveries,  as  they  so  clearly  illustrate  an 
actual  succession  of  ages,  and  so  conclusively  show  the  un- 
certainty of  the  classification  into  ages  of  stone  and  metal, 
except  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  precise  circum- 
stances of  each  locality. 

I  have  referred  above  only  to  the  question  of  historic  or 
postdiluvian  man.  We  have  still  to  consider  what  remains 
exist  of  antediluvian  man.  These  may  be  studied  in  connec- 
tion with  our  third  head  of  geological  evidences  of  man's  an- 
tiquity ;  for  if  the  Mosaic  narrative  be  true,  the  diluvial  ca- 
tastrophe must  have  constituted  a  physical  separation  be- 
tween historic  man  and  prehistoric;  since,  in  so  far  as  ante- 
diluvian ages  are  concerned,  all  are  prehistoric  or  mythical 
everywhere  except  in  the  sacred  history  itself.  Antediluvian 
men  may  thus  in  geology  be  Pleistocene  as  distinguished 
from  modern,  or  Palceocosmic  as  distinguished  from  Neo- 
cosmic* 

2.  Language  in  Relation  to  the  Antiquity  of  Man. — In  many 
animals  the  voice  has  a  distinctive  character ;  but  in  man  it 
has  an  importance  altogether  peculiar.     The  gift  of  speech  is 


*  I  suggested  these  terms  in  my  lectures  published  under  the  title 
"Nature  and  the  Bible,"  1875. 


286  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

one  of  his  sole  prerogatives,  and  identity  in  its  mode  of  exer- 
cise is  not  only  the  strongest  proof  of  similarity  of  psychical 
constitution,  but  more  than  any  other  character  marks  iden- 
tity of  origin.  The  tongues  of  men  are  many  and  various ; 
and  at  first  sight  this  diversity  may,  as  indeed  it  often  does, 
convey  the  impression  of  radical  diversity  of  race.  But  mod- 
ern philological  investigations  have  shown  many  and  unex- 
pected links  of  connection  in  vocabulary  or  grammatical 
structure,  or  both,  between  languages  apparently  the  most 
dissimilar.  I  do  not  here  refer  to  the  vague  and  fanciful 
parallels  with  which  our  ancestors  were  often  amused,  but  to 
the  results  of  sober  and  scientific  inquiry.  "  Nothing,"  says 
Professor  Max  Miiller,  "necessitates  the  admission  of  differ- 
ent independent  beginnings  for  the  material  elements  of  the 
Turanian,  Semitic,  and  Aryan  branches  of  speech;  nay,  it  is 
possible  even  now  to  point  out  radicals  which,  under  various 
changes  and  disguises,  have  been  current  in  these  three 
branches  ever  since  their  first  separation."  Of  the  truth  of 
this  I  have  convinced  myself  by  some  original  investigation, 
and  also  of  the  farther  truth  that  of  this  radical  unity  of  all  hu- 
man tongues  there  is  more  full  evidence  than  many  philologists 
are  disposed  to  admit,  and  that  the  results  of  future  study 
must  be  to  connect  more  and  more  with  each  other  the  sev- 
eral main  stems  of  language.  Whether  this  results  merely 
from  the  psychical  unity  of  the  human  race,  or  from  the  his- 
torical derivation  of  languages  from  one  root,  is  not  so  mate- 
rial as  the  fact  of  unity  ;  but  that  the  latter  is  implied  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  show.*     Let  us  examine  for  a  little 


*  Since  these  words  were  written  I  have  read  the  remarkable  book 
of  Edkins  on  the  Chinese  language,  which  supplies  much  additional  in- 
formation. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  287 

these  results  as  they  are  presented  to  us  by  Latham,  Miiller, 
Bunsen,  and  other  modern  philologists. 

A  convenient  starting-point  is  afforded  by  the  great  group 
of  languages  known  as  the  Indo-European,  Japhetic,  or  Ary- 
an. From  the  Ganges  to  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  through 
Indian,  Persian,  Greek,  Italian,  German,  Celt,  runs  one  great 
language — the  Sanscrit  and  the  dark  Hindoo  at  one  extreme, 
the  Erse  and  the  xanthous  Celt  at  the  other.  No  one  now 
doubts  the  affinity  of  this  great  belt  of  languages.  No  one 
can  pretend  that  any  one  of  these  nations  learned  its  lan- 
guage from  another.  They  are  all  decided  branches  of  a 
common  stock.  Lying  in  and  near  this  area  are  other  na- 
tions— as  the  Arabs,  the  Syrians,  the  Jews — speaking  lan- 
guages differing  in  words  and  structure — the  Semitic  tongues. 
Do  these  mark  a  different  origin  ?  The  philologists  answer 
in  the  negative,  pointing  to  the  features  of  resemblance 
which  still  remain,  and  above  all  to  certain  intermediate 
tongues  of  so  high  antiquity  that  they  are  rather  to  be  re- 
garded as  root-stocks  from  which  other  languages  diverged 
than  as  mixtures.  The  principal  of  these  is  the  ancient 
Egyptian,  represented  by  the  inscriptions  on  the  monuments 
of  that  wonderful  people,  and  by  the  more  modern  Coptic, 
which,  according  to  Bunsen  and  Latham,  presents  decided 
affinities  to  both  the  great  classes  previously  mentioned,  and 
may  be  regarded  as  strictly  intermediate  in  its  character.  It 
has  accordingly  been  designated  by  the  term  Sub-Semitic* 
But  it  shares  this  character  with  all  or  nearly  all  the  other 
African  languages,  which  bear  strong  marks  of  affinity  to  the 


*  Donaldson  has  pointed  out  (British  Association  Proceedings,  1851) 
links  of  connection  between  the  Slavonian  or  Sarmatian  tongues  and  the 
Semitic  languages,  which  in  like  manner  indicate  the  primitive  union  of 
the  two  great  branches  of  languages. 


288  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Eg3^ptian  and  Semitic  tongues.  On  this  subject  Dr.  Latham 
says,  "That  the  uniformity  of  languages  throughout  Africa  is 
greater  than  it  is  either  in  Asia  or  in  Europe,  is  a  statement 
to  which  I  have  not  the  least  hesitation  in  committing  my- 
self."* To  the  north  the  Indo-European  area  is  bounded  by 
a  great  group  of  semi-barbarous  populations,  mostly  with 
Mongolian  features,  and  speaking  languages  which  have  been 
grouped  as  Turanian.  These  Turanian  languages,  on  the 
one  hand,  graduate  without  any  break  into  those  of  the  Es- 
quimaux and  American  Indians;  on  the  other,  according  to 
Miiller  and  Latham,  they  are  united,  though  less  distinctly, 
with  the  Semitic  and  Japhetic  tongues.  They  not  improb- 
ably represent  in  more  or  less  altered  forms  the  most  prim- 
itive stock  of  language  from  which  both  the  Semitic  and 
Japhetic  groups  have  branched.  Another  great  area  on  the 
coasts  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  is  overspread  by  the 
Malay,  which,  through  the  populations  of  Transgangetic  In- 
dia, connects  itself  with  the  great  Indo-European  line.  Mr. 
Edkins,  in  his  remarkable  book  on  "  China's  Place  in  Phi- 
lolog}'","  has  collected  a  large  amount  of  fact  tending  to  show 
that  the  early  Chinese  in  its  monosyllabic  radicals  presents 
root-forms  traceable  into  all  the  stocks  of  human  speech  in 
the  Old  World  ;  and  the  American  languages  would  have  fur- 
nished him  with  similar  lines  of  affinity.  If  we  regard  phys- 
ical characters,  manners,  and  customs,  and  mythologies,  as 
well  as  mere  language,  it  is  much  easier  thus  to  link  togeth- 
er nearly  all  the  populations  of  the  globe.  In  investigations 
of  this  kind,  it  is  true,  the  links  of  connection  are  often  deli- 
cate and  evanescent;  yet  they  have  conveyed  to  the  ablest 


*  "  Man  and  his  Migrations."     See  also  "  Descriptive  Ethnology," 
where  the  Semitic  affinities  are  very  strongly  brought  out. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  289 

investigators  the  strong  impression  that  the  phenomena  are 
rather  those  of  division  of  a  radical  language  than  of  union 
of  several  radically  distinct. 

This  impression  is  farther  strengthened  when  we  regard 
several  results  incidental  to  these  researches.  Latham  has 
shown  that  the  languages  of  men  may  be  regarded  as  ar- 
ranged in  lines  of  divergence,  the  extreme  points  of  which 
are  Fuego,  Tasmania,  Easter  Island  ;  and  that  from  all  these 
points  they  converge  to  a  common  centre  in  Western  Asia, 
where  we  find  a  cluster  of  the  most  ancient  and  perfect  lan- 
guages; and  even  Haeckel  is  obliged  to  adopt  in  his  map  of 
the  affiliation  of  races  of  men  a  similar  scheme,  though  he, 
without  any  good  historical  or  scientific  evidence,  extends  it 
back  into  the  imaginary  lost  continent  of  Lemuria.  Farther, 
the  languages  of  the  various  populations  differ  in  proceeding 
from  these  centres  in  a  manner  pointing  to  degeneracy  such 
as  is  likely  to  occur  in  small  and  rude  tribes  separating  from 
a  parent  stock.  These  lines  of  radiation  follow  the  most 
easy  and  probable  lines  of  migration  of  the  human  race 
spreading  from  one  centre.  It  must  also  be  observed  that 
in  the  primary  migration  of  men,  there  must  of  necessity 
have  been  at  its  extreme  limits  outlying  and  isolated  tribes, 
placed  in  circumstances  in  which  language  would  very  rapid- 
ly change  ;  especially  as  these  tribes,  migrating  or  driven  for- 
ward, would  be  continually  arriving  at  new-  regions  present- 
ing new  circumstances  and  objects.  When  at  length  the  ut- 
most limit  in  any  direction  was  reached,  the  inroads  of  new 
races  of  population  would  press  into  close  contact  these 
various  tribes  with  their  different  dialects.  Where  the  dis- 
tance was  greatest  before  reaching  this  limit,  we  might  ex- 
pect, as  in  America,  to  find  the  greatest  mutual  variety  and 
amount   of  difference   from    the   original   stock.     After    the 

N 


290  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

primary  migration  had  terminated,  the  displacements  arising 
from  secondary  migrations  and  conquests,  would  necessarily 
complicate  the  matter  by  breaking  up  the  original  gradations 
of  difference,  and  thereby  rendering  lines  of  migration  dif- 
ficult to  trace. 

Taking  all  these  points  into  the  account,  along  with  the 
known  tendencies  of  languages  in  all  circumstances  to  vary, 
it  is  really  wonderful  that  philology  is  still  able  to  give  so  de- 
cided indications  of  unity. 

There  is,  in  the  usual  manner  of  speaking  of  these  subjects, 
a  source  of  misapprehension,  which  deserves  special  mention 
in  this  place.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  derive  all  the  nations 
of  the  ancient  world  from  three  patriarchs,  and  the  names  of 
these  have  often  been  attached  to  particular  races  of  men 
and  their  languages ;  but  it  should  never  be  supposed  that 
these  classifications  are  likely  to  agree  with  the  Bible  affilia- 
tion. They  may  to  a  certain  extent  do  so,  but  not  necessari- 
ly or  even  probably.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  those  por- 
tions of  these  families  which  remained  near  the  original  cen- 
tre, and  in  a  civilized  state,  would  retain  the  original  language 
and  features  comparatively  unchanged.  Those  which  wan- 
dered far,  fell  into  barbarism,  or  became  subjected  to  extreme 
climatic  influences,  would  vary  more  in  all  respects.  Hence 
any  general  classification,  whether  on  physical  or  philological 
characters,  will  be  likely  to  unite,  as  in  the  Caucasian  group 
of  Cuvier,  men  of  all  the  three  primitive  families,  while  it  will 
separate  the  outlying  and  aberrant  portions  from  their  main 
stems  of  affiliation.  Want  of  attention  to  this  point  has  led  to 
much  misconception ;  and  perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  aban- 
don altogether  terms  founded  on  the  names  of  the  sons  of 
Noah,  except  where  historical  affiliation  is  the  point  in  ques- 
tion.    It  would  be  well  if  it  were  understood  that  v/hen  the 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  291 

terms  Semitic,  Japhetic  *  and  Hametic  are  used,  direct  ref- 
erence is  made  to  the  Hebrew  ethnology ;  and  that,  where 
other  arrangements  are  adopted,  other  terms  should  be  used. 
It  is  obviously  unfair  to  apply  the  terms  of  Moses  in  a  dif- 
ferent way  from  that  in  which  he  uses  them.  A  very  prev- 
alent error  of  this  kind  has  been  to  apply  the  term  Japhetic 
to  a  number  of  nations  not  of  such  origin  according  to  the 
Bible  j  and  another  of  more  modern  date  is  to  extend  the 
term  Semitic  to  all  the  races  descended  from  Ham,  because 
of  resemblance  of  language.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that,  assuming  the  truth  of  the  Scriptural  affiliation,  there 
should  be  a  "central"  group  of  races  and  languages  where 
the  whole  of  the  three  families  meet,  and  "sporadic"!  groups 
representing  the  changes  of  the  outlying  and  barbarous 
tribes. 

While,  however,  all  the  more  eminent  philologists  adhere 
to  the  original  unity  of  language,  they  are  by  no  means  agreed 
as  to  the  antiquity  of  man  ;  and  some,  as  for  instance  Latham 
and  Dr.  Max  Midler,  are  disposed  to  claim  an  antiquity  for 
our  species  far  beyond  that  usually  admitted.  In  so  far  as 
this  affects  the  Bible  history,  it  is  important,  inasmuch  as  this 
would  appear  to  limit  the  possible  antiquity  of  all  languages 
to  the  time  of  the  deluge.  The  date  of  this  event  has  been 
variously  estimated,  on  Biblical  grounds,  at  from  1650  B.C. 
(Usher)  to  3155  B.C.  (Josephus  and  Hales);  but  the  longest 
of  these  dates  does  not  appear  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  phi- 
lology.    The  reason  of  this  demand  is  the  supposed  length 

*  I  can  scarcely  except  such  terms  as  "Japetic"  and  "Japetids,"  for 
lapetus  can  hardly  be  any  thing  else  than  a  traditional  name  borrowed 
from  Semitic  ethnology,  or  handed  down  from  the  Japhetic  progenitors 
of  the  Greeks. 

t  See  art.  "  Philology,"  Encyc.  Brit. 


292  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

of  time  required  to  effect  the  necessary  changes.  The  subject 
is  one  on  which  definite  data  can  scarcely  be  obtained.  Lan- 
guages change  now,  even  when  reduced  to  a  comparatively 
stable  form  by  writing.  They  change  more  rapidly  when 
men  migrate  into  new  climates,  and  are  placed  in  contact 
with  new  objects.  The  English,  the  Dutch,  and  the  German 
were  perhaps  all  at  the  dawn  of  the  mediaeval  era  Maeso- 
Gothic.  At  the  same  rate  of  change,  allowing  for  greater  bar- 
barism and  greater  migrations,  they  may  very  well  have  been 
something  not  far  from  Egyptian  or  Sanscrit  2000  years  be- 
fore Christ.  The  truth  is  that  present  rates  of  variation  afford 
no  criterion  for  the  changes  that  must  occur  in  the  languages 
of  small  and  isolated  tribes  lapsing  into  or  rising  from  bar- 
barism, possessing  few  words,  and  constantly  requiring  to 
name  new  objects ;  and  until  some  ratio  shall  have  been  es- 
tablished between  these  conditions  and  those  of  modern  lan- 
guages, fixed  by  literature  and  by  a  comparatively  stationary 
state  of  society,  it  is  useless  to  make  any  demands  for  longer 
time  on  this  ground.* 

Even  in  the  present  day,  Moftat  informs  us  that  in  South 
Africa  the  separation  of  parts  of  a  tribe,  for  even  a  few  months, 
may  produce  a  notable  difference  of  dialect.  If  we  take 
the  existing  languages  of  civilized  men  whose  history  is  known, 
we  shall  find  that  it  is  impossible  to  trace  many  of  them 
back  as  far  as  the  Christian  era,  and  when  we  have  passed 
over  even  half  that  interval,  they  become  so  different  as  to 
be  unintelligible  to  those  who  now  speak  them.     Where  there 


*  Grammatical  structure  is  no  doubt  more  permanent  than  vocabulary, 
yet  we  find  great  changes  in  the  latter,  both  in  tracing  cognate  languages 
from  one  region  to  another,  and  from  period  to  period.  The  Indo-Ger- 
manic  languages  in  Europe  furnish  enough  of  familiar  instances. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  293 

are  exceptions  to  this,  they  arise  entirely  from  the  effects 
of  literature  and  artificial  culture.  While,  therefore,  there  is 
good  ground  in  philology  for  the  belief  in  one  primitive  lan- 
guage, there  seems  no  absolute  necessity  to  have  recourse 
even  to  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel  to  explain  the  di- 
versities of  language.*  Farther,  the  Bible  carries  back  the 
Semitic  group  of  languages  at  least  to  the  time  of  the  Deluge, 
but  it  does  not  seem  necessary  on  the  mere  ground  of  ante- 
diluvian names,  to  carry  it  any  farther  back,  and  the  Assyrian 
inscriptions  show  the  co-existence  of  Turanian  and  Semitic 
tongues  at  the  dawn  of  history  in  the  region  of  the  Euphrates 
and  Tigris.  One  or  other  of  these — or  a  monosyllabic  lan- 
guage underlying  it — was  probably  an  antediluvian  tongue, 
and  the  other  a  very  early  derivative ;  and  both  history  and 
philology  would  assign  the  precedence  to  the  Turanian  lan- 
guage, which  was  probably  most  akin  to  that  which  had  de- 
scended from  antediluvian  times,  and  which  at  that  early 
period  of  dispersion  indicated  in  the  Bible  story  of  Babel,  had 
begun  to  throw  off  its  two  great  branches  of  the  Aryan  and 
Semitic  languages.  These,  proceeding  in  two  dissimilar  lines 
of  development,  continue  to  exist  to  this  day  along  with  the 
surviving  portions  of  the  uncultivated  Turanian  speech.  To 
this  point,  however,  we  may  return  under  another  head. 


*  It  is  fair,  however,  to  observe  that  the  Bible  refers  the  first  great  di- 
vergence of  language  to  a  divine  intervention  at  the  Tower  of  Babel.  The 
precise  nature  of  this  we  do  not  know ;  but  it  would  tend  to  diminish  the 
time  required. 


294  -The  Origin  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

UNITY  AND  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN— (C^«^/««^^.) 

"  By  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were  from  of  old,  and  the  earth,  form- 
ed out  of  water,  and  by  means  of  water,  by  which  waters  the  world  that 
then  was,  being  overflowed  with  water,  perished." — 2  Peter  iii,,  5,  6. 

3.  Geological  Evidence  as  to  the  Antiquity  of  Man. — No  geo- 
logical fact  can  now  be  more  firmly  established  than  the  as- 
cending progression  of  animal  life,  whereby  from  the  early  in- 
vertebrates of  the  Eozoic  and  Primordial  series  we  pass  upward 
through  the  dynasties  of  fishes  and  reptiles  and  brute  mam- 
mals to  the  reign  of  man.  In  this  great  series  man  is  ob- 
viously the  last  term  ;  and  when  we  inquire  at  what  point  he 
was  introduced,  the  answer  must  be  in  the  later  part  of  the 
great  Cainozoic  or  Tertiary  period,  which  is  the  latest  of  the 
whole.  Not  only  have  we  the  negative  fact  of  the  absence 
of  his  remains  from  all  the  earlier  Tertiary  formations,  but 
the  positive  fact  that  all  the  mammalia  of  these  earlier  ages 
are  now  extinct,  and  that  man  could  not  have  survived  the 
changes  of  condition  which  destroyed  them  and  introduced 
the  species  now  our  contemporaries.  This  fact  is  altogether 
independent  of  any  question  as  to  the  introduction  of  species 
by  derivation  or  by  creation.  The  oldest  geological  period 
in  which  any  animals  nearly  related  in  structure  to  man 
occur  is  that  named  the  Miocene,  and  no  traces  of  man 
have  as  yet  been  found  in  any  deposits  of  this  age.  All  human 
remains  known  belong  either  to  the  Pleistocene  or  Modern. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  295 

Now  the  Pleistocene  was  characterized  by  one  of  those  pe- 
riods of  glacial  cold  which  have  swept  over  the  earth — by  one 
of  those  great  winters  which  have  so  chilled  the  continents 
that  few  forms  of  life  could  survive  them — and  man  comes  in 
at  the  close  of  this  cold  period,  in  what  is  called  the  Post-gla- 
cial age.  Some  geologists,  it  is  true,  hold  to  an  interglacial 
warm  period,  in  which  man  is  supposed  to  have  existed,  but 
the  evidence  of  this  is  extremely  slender  and  doubtful,  and  it 
carries  back  in  any  case  human  antiquity  but  a  very  little 
way.  I  have,  in  my  "  Story  of  the  Earth  and  Man,"  shown 
reason  for  the  belief,  in  which  I  find  Professor  Hughes,  of 
Cambridge,  coincides  with  me,*  that  the  interglacial  periods 
are  merely  an  ingenious  expedient  to  get  rid  of  the  difficul- 
ties attending  the  hypothesis  of  the  universal  glaciation  of 
the  northern  hemisphere. 

But,  though  man  is  thus  geologically  modern,  it  is  held 
that  historically  his  existence  on  earth  may  have  been  very 
ancient,  extending  perhaps  ten  or  twenty,  or  even  a  hundred 
times  longer  than  the  period  of  six  or  seven  thousand  years 
supposed  to  be  proved  by  sacred  history.  Let  us  first,  as 
plainly  and  simply  as  possible,  present  the  facts  supposed 
thus  to  extend  the  antiquity  of  man,  and  then  inquire  as  to 
their  validity  and  force  as  arguments  in  this  direction. 

The  arguments  from  geology  in  favor  of  a  great  antiquity 
for  man  may  be  summarized  thus:  (i)  Human  remains  are 
found  in  caverns  under  very  thick  stalagmitic  crusts,  and  in 
deposits  of  earth  which  must  have  accumulated  before  these 
stalagmites  began  to  form,  and  when  the  caverns  were  differ- 
ently situated  with  reference  to  the  local  drainages.  (2)  Re- 
mains of  man  are  found  under  peat-bogs  which  have  grown 

*  Lecture  in  the  Roval  Institution,  March  24,  1876. 


296  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

so  little  in  modern  times  that  their  antiquity  on  the  whole 
must  be  very  great.  (3)  Implements,  presumably  made  by 
men,  are  found  in  river-gravels  so  high  above  existing  river- 
beds that  great  physical  changes  must  have  occurred  since 
they  were  accumulated.  (4)  One  case  is  on  record  where  a 
human  bone  is  believed  to  have  been  found  under  a  deposit 
of  glacial  age.  (5)  Human  remains  have  been  found  under 
circumstances  which  indicate  that  very  important  changes  of 
level  have  taken  place  since  their  accumulation.  (6)  Human 
remains  have  been  found  under  circumstances  which  indicate 
great  changes  of  climate  as  intervening  between  their  date 
and  that  of  the  modern  period.  (7)  Man  is  known  to  have 
existed,  in  Europe  at  least,  at  the  same  time  with  some  quad- 
rupeds formerly  supposed  to  have  been  extinct  before  his  in- 
troduction. (8)  The  implements,  weapons,  etc.,  found  in  the 
oldest  of  these  repositories  are  different  from  those  known  to 
have  been  used  in  historic  times. 

These  several  heads  include,  I  think,  all  the  really  material 
evidence  of  a  geological  character.  It  is  evidence  of  a  kind 
not  easily  reducible  into  definite  dates,  but  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  its  nature,  and  the  rapid  accumulation  of  facts 
within  a  small  number  of  years,  have  created  a  deep  and 
widespread  conviction  among  geologists  and  archaeologists 
that  we  must  relegate  the  origin  of  man  to  a  much  more  re- 
mote antiquity  than  that  sanctioned  by  history  or  by  the  Bib- 
lical chronology.  I  shall  first  review  the  character  of  this 
evidence,  and  then  state  a  number  of  geological  facts  which 
bear  in  the  other  direction,  and  have  been  somewhat  lost 
sight  of  in  recent  discussions.  Of  the  facts  above  referred  to, 
the  most  important  are  those  which  relate  to  caverns,  peat- 
bogs, and  river-gravels.  We  may,  therefore,  first  consider  the 
nature  and  amount  of  this  evidence. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  297 

That  the  reader  may  more  distinctly  understand  the  geo- 
logical history  of  these  more  recent  periods  of  the  earth's 
history  which  are  supposed  to  have  witnessed  the  advent  of 
man,  in  AVestern  Europe  at  least,  I  quote  the  following  sum- 
mary from  Sir  Charles  Lyell  of  the  more  modern  changes  in 
that  portion  of  the  world.     These  are  : 

"First,  a  continental  period,  toward  the  close  of  which  the 
forest  of  Cromer  flourished  :  when  the  land  was  at  least  500 
feet  above  its  present  level,  perhaps  much  higher.  *  *  *  The 
remains  oi  Hippopotamus  major  and  Rhinoceros  etrusais,  found 
in  beds  of  this  period,  seem  to  indicate  a  climate  somewhat 
milder  than  that  now  prevailing  in  Great  Britain.  [This  was 
a  Frcglacial  era,  and  may  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the 
close  of  the  Pliocene  tertiary.] 

"  Secondly,  a  period  of  submergence,  by  which  the  land 
north  of  the  Thames  and  Bristol  Channel,  and  that  of  Ire- 
land, was  generally  reduced  to  *  *  *  an  archipelago.  *  *  * 
This  was  the  period  of  great  submergence  and  of  floating 
ice,  when  the  Scandinavian  flora,  which  occupied  the  lower 
grounds  during  the  first  continental  period,  may  have  obtain- 
ed exclusive  possession  of  the  only  lands  not  covered  with 
perpetual  snow.  [This  represents  the  Glacial  period ;  but 
according  to  the  more  extreme  glacialists  only  a  portion  of 
that  period.] 

"  Thirdly,  a  second  continental  period,  when  the  bed  of  the 
glacial  sea,  with  its  marine  shells  and  erratic  blocks,  was  laid 
dry,  and  when  the  quantity  of  land  equalled  that  of  the  first 
period.  *  =*  *  During  this  period  there  were  glaciers  in  the 
higher  mountains  of  Scotland  and  Wales,  and  the  Welsh 
glaciers  *  *  *  pushed  before  them  and  cleared  out  the 
marine  drift  with  which  some  valleys  had  been  filled  during 
the  period  of  submergence.   *  *  *  During  this  last  period 

N  2 


298  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  passage  of  the  Germanic  flora  into  the  British  area  took 
place,  and  the  Scandinavian  plants,  together  with  northern 
insects,  birds,  and  quadrupeds,  retreated  into  the  higher 
grounds.  =*  *  * 

"  Fourthly,  the  next  and  last  change  comprised  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  land  of  the  British  area  once  more  into  numer- 
ous islands,  ending  in  the  present  geographical  condition  of 
things.  There  were  probably  many  oscillations  of  level  dur- 
ing this  last  conversion  of  continuous  land  into  islands,  and 
such  movements  in  opposite  directions  would  account  for  the 
occurrence  of  marine  shells  at  moderate  heights  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  notwithstanding  a  general  lowering  of  the 
land.  *  *  *  During  this  period  a  gradual  amelioration  of 
temperature  took  place,  from  the  cold  of  the  glacial  period 
to  the  climate  of  historical  times.''* 

The  second  continental  period  above  referred  to  is  that 
which  appears  on  the  best  evidence  to  have  been  the  time  of 
the  introduction  of  man ;  but  such  facts  as  that  of  the  Settle 
Cave,  and  the  implements  of  the  breccia  in  Kent's  Cave,  if 
rightly  interpreted,  would  make  man  preglacial  or  "  inter- 
glacial." 

The  deposits  found  in  caverns  in  France,  Switzerland, 
Germany,  Belgium,  and  England  have  afforded  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  remains  from  which  we  derive  our  notions  of 
the  most  ancient  prehistoric  men  of  Europe.  From  the  Bel- 
gian caves,  as  explored  by  M.  Dupont,  we  learn  that  there 
were  two  successive  prehistoric  races,  both  rude  or  com- 
paratively uncivilized.  The  first  were  men  of  Turanian  type, 
but  of  great  bodily  stature  and  high  cerebral  organization, 
and  showing  remarkable  skill  in  the  manufacture  of  imple- 

*  "  Antiquity  of  Man,"  4th  ed. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  299 

merits  and  ornaments  of  bone  and  ivoiy.  These  men  are  be- 
lieved to  have  been  contemporary  with  the  earlier  postglacial 
mammals,  as  the  mammoth  and  hairy  rhinoceros,  and  to 
have  lived  at  a  time  when  the  European  land  was  more  ex- 
tensive than  at  present,  stretching  far  to  the  west  of  Ireland, 
and  connectins:  Great  Britain  with  the  Continent.  The  skele- 
tons  found  at  Cro-Magnon,  Mentone,  and  elsewhere  in  France 
fully  confirm  the  deductions  of  Dupont  as  to  this  earliest  race 
of  Palaeocosmic,  Palaeolithic,  or  antediluvian  man.  This  grand 
race  seems  to  have  perished  or  been  driven  from  Europe  by 
the  great  depression  of  the  level  of  the  land  which  inaugu- 
rated the  modern  era,  and  which  was  probably  accompanied 
by  many  oscillations  of  level  as  well  as  by  considerable 
changes  of  climate.  They  were  succeeded  by  a  second 
race,  equally  Turanian  in  type,  but  of  small  stature,  and  re- 
sembling the  modern  Lapps.  These  were  the  "allophylian" 
peoples  displaced  by  the  historical  Celts,  and  up  to  their 
time  the  reindeer  seems  to  have  existed  abundantly  in  France 
and  Germany.  These  two  successive  prehistoric  populations 
have  been  termed  respectively  men  of  the  "  mammoth  "  age 
and  men  of  the  "  reindeer "  age.  The  Bible  record  would 
lead  us  to  regard  the  earlier  and  gigantic  men  as  antediluvian, 
and  the  smaller  or  Lappish  race  as  postdiluvian.  We  may 
therefore,  having  already  at  some  length  considered  the  post- 
diluvian age,  take  up  the  mode  of  occurrence  of  the  remains 
of  the  earlier  of  the  two  races — that  of  the  mammoth  age. 

The  caverns  themselves  may  be  divided  into  those  of  resi- 
dence, of  sepulture,  and  of  driftage,  though  one  cavern  has 
often  successively  assumed  two  at  least  of  these  characters. 
In  the  caverns  of  residence  large  accumulations  have  been 
formed  of  ashes,  charcoal,  bones,  and  other  debris  of  cookery,- 
amons  which  are  found  flint  and  bone  implements,  the  gen- 


300  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

eral  character  of  which,  as  well  as  that  of  the  needles,  stone 
hammers,  mortars  for  paint,  and  other  domestic  appliances, 
are  not  more  dissimilar  from  those  of  the  Red  Indian  and 
Esquimau  races  in  North  America  than  these  are  from  one 
another,  and  in  many  things,  as  in  the  bone  harpoons,  the  re- 
semblance is  very  striking  indeed.  In  tendency  to  imitative 
art,  and  in  the  skill  of  their  delineations  of  animals,  the  pre- 
historic men  seem  to  have  surpassed  all  the  American  races 
except  the  semi-civilized  mound-builders  and  the  more  cul- 
tivated Mexican  and  Peruvian  nations.  With  regard  to  the 
residence  of  these  men  of  the  mammoth  age  in  caverns,  sev- 
eral things  are  indicated  by  American  analogies  to  which 
some  attention  should  be  paid. 

It  is  not  likely  that  caverns  were  the  usual  places  of  resi- 
dence of  the  whole  population.  They  may  have  been  winter 
houses  for  small  tribes  and  detached  families  of  fugitives  or 
outlaws,  or  they  may  have  been  places  of  resort  for  hunting 
parties  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  The  large  quantities 
of  broken  and  uncooked  bones  of  particular  species,  as  of  the 
horse  and  reindeer,  in  some  of  the  caverns,  would  farther  in- 
dicate a  habit  of  making  great  battues,  like  those  of  the 
American  hunting  tribes,  at  certain  seasons,  and  of  preparing 
quantities  of  pemmican  or  dried  meat  preserved  with  marrow 
and  fat  for  future  use.  The  number  of  bone  needles  found 
in  some  of  the  caves  would  seem  to  hint  that,  like  the  Amer- 
icans, they  sewed  up  their  pemmican  in  skin  bags.  The  mul- 
titude of  flint  flakes  and  of  rude  stone  implements  applicable 
to  breaking  bones  certainly  indicates  a  wholesale  cutting  of 
flesh  and  preparation  of  marrow.  In  the  "  Story  of  the 
Earth,"  I  have  suggested  in  connection  with  this  that  there 
may  have  been  towns  or  villages  of  these  people  unknown 
to  us,  and  w-hich  would   afford  higher  conceptions  of  their 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  301 

progress  in  the  arts.  This  anticipation  appears  recently  to 
have  been  realized  in  the  discovery  of  such  a  town  or  forti- 
fied village  of  the  mammoth  age  at  Soloutre,  in  France,  and 
which  seems  to  afford  evidence  that  these  ancient  people  had 
already  domesticated  the  horse,  using  it  as  food  as  well  as  a 
beast  of  burden,  in  the  manner  of  the  Khirgis  and  certain  other 
Tartar  tribes  of  Central  Asia.*  This,  with  the  undoubtedly 
high  cerebral  organization  indicated  by  the  skulls  of  the  mam- 
moth age,  notably  raises  our  estimate  of  the  position  of  man 
at  this  early  date. 

With  regard  to  caves  of  sepulture,  the  same  remark  may  be 
made  as  with  regard  to  the  caves  of  residence.  They  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  the  burial-places  of  large  populations,  but 
only  occasional  places  of  interment,  few  bodies  being  found 
in  them,  and  these  often  interred  in  the  midst  of  culinary  de- 
bris, evidencing  previous  or  contemporary  residence.  With 
regard  to  the  latter,  it  seems  to  have  been  no  uncommon  prac- 
tice with  some  North  American  tribes  to  bury  the  dead  either 
in  the  floors  of  their  huts  or  in  their  immediate  proximity. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  few  examples  known  of  caves 
of  sepulture  of  this  period  indicate  not  tribal  or  national 
places  of  burial,  but  occasional  and  accidental  cases,  happen- 
ing to  hunting  or  war  parties,  perhaps  remote  from  their  or- 
dinary places  of  residence.  In  so  far  as  method  of  burial  is 
concerned,  the  men  of  the  Palaeocosmic  or  Mammoth  age 
seem  to  have  buried  the  dead  extended  at  full  length,  and 
not  in  the  crouching  posture  usual  with  some  later  races. 
Like  the  Americans,  they  painted  the  dead  man,  and  buried 
him  with  his  robes  and  ornaments,  and  probably  with  his 
weapons,   thus    intimating    their    belief  in    happy    hunting- 

*  Southall,  Op.  cit. 


302  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

grounds  beyond  the  grave.*  I  may  remark  here  that  all  the 
known  interments  of  the  mammoth  age  indicate  a  race  of 
men  of  great  cerebral  capacity,  with  long  heads  and  coarsely 
marked  features,  of  large  stature  and  muscular  vigor,  surpass- 
ing indeed  much  in  all  these  respects  the  average  man  of 
modern  Europe.  These  characteristics  befit  men  who  had 
to  contend  with  the  mammoth  and  his  contemporaries,  and 
to  subdue  the  then  vast  wildernesses  of  the  eastern  continent, 
and  they  correspond  with  the  Biblical  characteristics  of  ante- 
diluvian man. 

Among  caves  of  driftage  may  be  classed  some  of  those 
near  Liege,  in  Belgium,  and,  partially  at  least,  those  of  Kent's 
Hole  and  Brixham,  in  England.  In  these  only  disarticu- 
lated remnants  of  human  skeletons,  or  more  frequently  only 
flint  implements,  some  of  them  of  doubtful  character,  have 
been  found.  In  my  "Story  of  the  Earth,"  I  have  taken  the 
carefully  explored  Kent's  Cavern  of  Torquay  as  a  typical  ex- 
ample, and  have  condensed  its  phenomena  as  described  by 
Mr.  Pengelly.  I  now  repeat  this  description,  wdth  some  im- 
portant emendations  suggested  by  that  gentleman  in  more 
recent  reports  and  in  private  correspondence. 

The  somewhat  extensive  and  ramifying  cavern  of  Kent's 
Hole  is  an  irregular  excavation,  evidently  due  partly  to  fis- 
sures or  joints  in  limestone  rock,  and  partly  to  the  erosive 
action  of  water  enlarging  such  fissures  into  chambers  and 
galleries.  At  what  time  it  was  originally  cut  we  do  not 
know,  but  it  must  have  existed  as  a  cavern  at  the  close  of 
the  Pliocene  or  beginning  of  the  Post-pliocene  period,  since 
which  time  it  has  been  receiving  a  series  of  deposits  which 
have  quite  filled  up  some  of  its  smaller  branches. 


*  The  Mentone  skeleton  described  by  Dr.  Riviere  gives  evidence  of 
these  facts. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  303 

First  and  lowest,  according  to  Mr.  Pengelly,  of  the  deposits 
as  yet  known,  is  a  "  breccia,"  or  mass  of  broken  and  rounded 
stones,  with  hardened  red  clay  filling  the  interstices.  Some 
of  the  stones  are  of  the  rock  which  forms  the  roof  and  walls 
of  the  cave,  but  the  greater  number,  especially  the  rounded 
ones,  are  from  more  distant  parts  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Many  are  fragments  of  grit  from  the  Devonian  beds  of  adja- 
cent hills.  There  are  also  fragments  of  stalagmite  from  an 
old  crust  broken  up  when  the  breccia  was  deposited,  and 
possibly  belonging  to  Pliocene  times.  In  this  mass,  the 
depth  of  which  is  unknown,  are  numerous  bones,  nearly  all  of 
one  kind  of  animal,  the  cave  bear  or  bears,  for  there  may  be 
more  than  one  species — creatures  which  seem  to  have  lived  in 
Western  Europe  from  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  down  to  the 
modern  period.  They  must  have  been  among  the  earliest 
and  most  permanent  tenants  of  Kent's  Hole  at  a  time  when 
its  lower  chambers  were  still  filled  with  water.  Teeth  of  a 
lion  and  of  the  common  fox  also  occur  in  this  deposit,  but 
rarely.  Next  above  the  breccia  is  a  floor  of  "  stalagmite,"  or 
stony  carbonate  of  lime,  deposited  from  the  drippings  of  the 
roof,  and  in  some  places  more  than  twelve  feet  thick.  This 
also  contains  bones  of  the  cave  bear,  deposited  when  there 
was  less  access  of  water  to  the  cavern.  Mr.  Pengelly  infers 
the  existence  of  man  at  this  time  from  the  occurrence  of 
chipped  flints  supposed  to  be  artificial  ;  but  which,  in  so  far 
as  I  can  judge  from  the  specimens  described  and  figured, 
must  still  be  regarded  as  of  doubtful  origin. 

After  the  old  stalagmite  floor  above  mentioned  was  formed, 
the  cave  again  received  deposits  of  muddy  water  and  stones ; 
but  now  a  change  occurs  in  the  remains  embedded.  This 
stony  clay,  or  "  cave  earth,"  has  yielded  an  immense  quantity 
of  teeth  and  bones,  including  those  of  the  elephant,  rhinoce- 


304  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

ros,  horse,  hyena,  cave  bear,  reindeer,  and  Irish  elk.  With 
these  were  found  weapons  of  chipped  flint,  and  harpoons, 
needles,  and  bodkins  of  bone,  precisely  similar  to  those  of 
the  North  American  Indians  and  other  rude  races.  The 
"cave  earth"  is  four  feet  or  more  in  thickness.  It  is  not 
stratified,  and  contains  many  fallen  fragments  of  rock,  round- 
ed stones,  and  broken  pieces  of  stalagmite.  It  also  has 
patches  of  the  excrement  of  hyenas,  which  the  explorers  sup- 
pose to  indicate  the  temporary  residence  of  these  animals; 
and  besides  fragments  of  charcoal  scattered  in  the  mass, 
there  is  in  one  spot,  near  the  top,  a  limited  layer  of  burned 
wood,  with  remains  which  indicate  the  cooking  and  eating  of 
repasts  of  animal  food  by  man.  It  is  clear  that  when  this 
bed  was  formed  the  cavern  was  liable  to  be  inundated  with 
muddy  water,  carrying  stones  and  perhaps  some  of  the 
bones  and  implements,  and  breaking  up  in  places  the  old 
stalagmite  floor.*  One  of  the  most  puzzling  features,  es- 
pecially to  those  who  take  an  exclusively  uniformitarian 
view,  is  that  the  entrance  of  water-borne  mud  and  stones 
implies  a  level  of  the  bottom  of  the  water  in  the  neighboring 
valleys  of  nearly  one  hundred  feet  above  its  present  height. 
The  cave  earth  is  covered  by  a  second  crust  of  stalagmite, 
less  dense  and  thick  than  that  below,  and  containing  only 
a  few  bones,  which  are  of  the  same  general  character  with 
those  beneath,  but  include  a  fragment  of  a  human  jaw  with 
teeth.  Evidently  when  this  stalagmite  was  formed  the  in- 
flux of  water-borne  materials  had  ceased,  or  nearly  so ;  and 
Mr.  Pengelly  appears  to  affirm,  though  without  assigning  any 


*  Mr.  Pengelly  declines  to  admit  this ;  but  assigns  no  cause  for  the 
breaking  up  of  portions  of  the  old  floor,  which  he  merely  refers  in  general 
terms  to  "natural  causes." 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  305 

reason,  that  none  of  these  bones  could,  like  the  masses  of 
stalagmite,  have  been  lifted  from  lower  beds,  or  washed  into 
the  cave  from  without. 

The  next  bed  marks  a  new  change.  It  is  a  layer  of  black 
mould  from  three  to  ten  inches  thick.  Its  microscopic 
structure  does  not  seem  to  have  been  examined ;  but  it  is 
probably  a  forest  soil,  introduced  by  growth,  by  water,  by 
wind,  and  by  ingress  of  animals,  all  of  them  modern,  and 
contains  works  of  art  from  the  old  British  times  before  the 
Roman  invasion  up  to  the  porter  bottles  and  dropped  half- 
pence of  modern  visitors.  Lastly,  in  and  upon  the  black 
mould  are  many  fallen  blocks  from  the  roof  of  the  cave. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  cave  and  the  neighboring 
one  of  Brixham  have  done  very  much  to  impress  the  minds 
of  British  geologists  with  ideas  of  the  great  antiquity  of  man  ; 
and  they  have,  more  than  any  other  post-glacial  monuments, 
shown  the  existence  of  some  animals  now  extinct  up  to  the 
human  age.  Of  precise  data  for  determining  time,  they 
have,  however,  given  nothing.  The  only  measures  which 
seem  to  have  been  applied,  namely,  the  rate  of  growth  of 
stalagmite  and  the  rate  of  erosion  of  neighboring  valleys, 
are,  from  the  very  sequence  of  the  deposits,  obviously  worth- 
less ;  and  the  only  apparently  constant  measure,  namely,  the 
fall  of  blocks  from  the  roof,  seems  not  to  have  been  applied, 
and  ]\Ir.  Pengelly  declares  that  it  can  not  be  practically 
used.  We  are  therefore  quite  uncertain  as  to  the  number  of 
centuries  involved  in  the  filling  of  this  cave,  and  must  re- 
main so  until  some  surer  system  of  calculation  can  be  de- 
vised. We  may,  however,  attempt  to  sketch  the  series  of 
events  which  it  indicates. 

The  animals  found  in  Kent's  Hole  are  all  "post-glacial," 
some  of  them  of  course  survivors  from  "pre-glacial"  times, 


3o6  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

and  some  of  them  still  surviving.  They  therefore  inhabited 
the  country  after  it  rose  from  the  great  glacial  submergence. 
Perhaps  the  first  colonists  of  the  coast  of  Devonshire  in  this 
period  were  the  cave  bears,  migrating  on  floating  ice,  and 
subsisting  like  the  arctic  bear  and  the  black  bear  of  Anti- 
costi,  on  fish,  and  on  the  garbage  cast  up  by  the  sea.  They 
may  have  found  Kent's  Hole  a  sea-side  cavern,  with  perhaps 
some  of  its  galleries  still  full  of  water  and  filling  with  breccia, 
with  which  the  bones  of  dead  bears  became  mixed.  In  the 
case  of  such  a  deposit  as  this  breccia,  however,  the  precise 
time  when  its  materials  were  finally  laid  down  in  their  pres- 
ent form,  or  the  length  of  time  necessary  for  its  accumula- 
tion, can  not  be  definitely  settled.  It  may  be  a  result  of  con- 
tinued torrential  action  or  of  some  sudden  cataclysm.  As 
the  land  rose,  these  creatures  for  the  most  part  betook  them- 
selves to  lower  levels,  and  in  process  of  time  the  cavern 
stood  upon  a  hill  -  side,  perhaps  several  hundreds  of  feet 
above  the  sea  ;  and  the  mountain  streams,  their  beds  not  yet 
emptied  of  glacial  detritus,  washed  into  it  stones  and  mud, 
and  probably  bones  also,  while  it  appears  that  hyenas  occu- 
pied the  cave  at  intervals,  and  dragged  in  remains  of  mam- 
mals of  many  species  which  had  now  swarmed  across  the 
plains  elevated  out  of  the  sea,  and  multiplied  in  the  land. 
This  was  the  time  of  the  cave  earth  ;  and  before  its  deposit 
w^as  completed,  though  how  long  before  an  unstratified  and 
therefore  probably  often-disturbed  bed  of  this  kind  can  not 
tell,  man  himself  seems  to  have  been  added  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  British  land.  In  pursuit  of  game  he  sometimes 
ascended  the  valleys  beyond  the  cavern,  or  even  penetrated 
into  its  outer  chambers ;  or  perhaps  there  were  even  in  those 
days  rude  and  savage  hill-men,  inhabiting  the  forests  and  war- 
ring with  the  more  cultivated  denizens  of  plains  below,  which 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  307 

are  now  deep  under  the  waters.  Their  weapons,  and  other  im- 
plements dropped  in  the  cavern  or  lost  in  hunting,  or  buried 
in  the  flesh  of  wounded  animals  which  crept  to  the  streams 
to  assuage  their  thirst,  are  those  found  in  the  cave  earth. 
The  absence  of  the  human  bones  may  merely  show  that  the 
mighty  hunters  of  those  days  were  too  hardy,  athletic,  and 
intelligent  often  to  perish  from  accidental  causes,  and  that 
they  did  not  use  this  cavern  for  a  place  of  burial.  The  frag- 
ments of  charcoal  show  that  they  were  acquainted  with  fire, 
and  possibly  that  they  sometimes  took  shelter  in  the  cave. 
But  the  land  again  subsided.  The  valley  of  that  now  name- 
less river,  of  which  the  Rhine  and  the  Thames  may  have 
alike  been  tributaries,  disappeared  under  the  sea ;  and  per- 
haps some  tribe,  driven  from  the  lower  lands,  took  up  its 
abode  in  this  cave,  now  again  near  the  encroaching  waves, 
and  left  there  the  remains  of  their  last  repasts  ere  they  were 
driven  farther  inland  or  engulfed  in  the  waters.  For  a  time 
the  cavern  may  have  been  wholly  submerged,  and  the  char- 
coal of  the  extinguished  fires  became  covered  with  its  thin 
coating  of  clay.  But  ere  long  it  re-emerged  to  form  part  of 
an  island,  long  barren  and  desolate ;  and  the  valleys  having 
been  cut  deeper  by  the  receding  waters,  it  no  longer  received 
muddy  deposits,  and  the  crust  formed  by  drippings  from  its 
roof  contained  only  bones  and  pebbles  washed  by  rains  and 
occasional  land  floods  from  its  own  clay  deposits.  Finally, 
the  modern  forests  overspread  the  land,  and  were  tenanted 
by  the  modern  animals.  Man  returned  to  use  the  cavern 
again  as  a  place  of  refuge  or  habitation,  and  to  leave  there 
the  relics  contained  in  the  black  earth.  This  seems  at  pres- 
ent the  only  intelligible  history  of  this  curious  cave  and  oth- 
ers resembling  it ;  though,  when  we  consider  the  imperfection 
of  the  results  obtained  even  by  a  large  amount  of  labor,  and 


3o8  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  difficult  and  confused  character  of  the  deposits  in  this 
and  similar  caves,  too  much  value  should  not  be  attached 
to  such  histories,  which  may  at  any  time  be  contradicted  or 
modified  by  new  facts  or  different  explanations  of  those  al- 
ready known.  The  time  involved  depends  very  much  on  the 
answer  to  the  question  whether  we  should  regard  the  post- 
glacial subsidence  and  re-elevation  as  somewhat  sudden,  or 
as  occupying  long  ages  at  the  slow  rate  at  which  some  parts 
of  our  continents  are  now  rising  or  sinking. 

Mr.  Pengelly  thinks  it  possible,  but  not  proved,  that  the 
lower  breccia  of  Kent's  Cavern  may  be  interglacial  or  pre- 
glacial  in  age.  One  case  only  is  known  where  a  human 
bone  has  been  found  in  a  cavern  under  deposits  supposed 
to  be  of  the  nature  of  the  glacial  drift.  It  is  that  of  the  Vic- 
toria Cave,  at  Settle,  in  Yorkshire.  At  this  place  a  human 
fibula  was  found  under  a  layer  of  boulder  clay.  But  there 
are  too  many  chances  of  this  bone  having  come  into  this  po- 
sition by  some  purely  local  accident  to  allow  us  to  attach 
much  importance  to  it  until  future  discoveries  shall  have 
supplied  other  instances  of  the  kind.* 

I  may  close  this  survey  of  the  cave  deposits  with  a  sum- 
mary of  the  results  of  M.  Dupont,  as  obtained  from  two  of 
the  caves  explored  by  him,  that  of  Margite  and  that  of  Fron- 
tal. In  the  first  of  these  caverns,  resting  on  rolled  pebbles 
which  covered  the  floor,  were  four  distinct  lavers  of  river 
mud  deposited  by  inundations,  and  amounting  to  two  yards 
and  a  half  in  thickness.  In  all  of  these  layers  were  bones. 
The  lowest  contained  rude  flint  implements,  and  bones  of 
the    mammoth,    rhinoceros,  bear,  horse,    chamois,  reindeer, 

*  This  whole  subject  of  supposed  preglacial  or  interglacial  men  is  still 
in  great  confusion  and  uncertainty,  and  is  complicated  with  questions,  still 
debated,  as  to  the  ages  of  the  supposed  glacial  and  post-glacial  deposits. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  309 

stag,  and  hyena.  In  the  overlying  deposits  are  some  flint 
implements  of  more  artistic  form  and  a  greater  prevalence 
of  the  bones  of  the  reindeer.  In  the  second  cave,  that  of 
Frontal,  over  a  similar  deposit  of  alluvial  mud  of  the  mam- 
moth age,  was  found  a  sepulchre  containing  the  remains  of 
sixteen  individuals,  of  the  second  or  diminutive  Lappish  race 
before  referred  to.  The  door  of  the  cave  had  been  closed 
by  these  people  with  a  slab  of  stone,  and  in  front  was  a 
hearth  for  funeral  feasts,  built  on  the  deposits  of  the  mam- 
moth age,  and  containing  bones  of  animals  all  recent  or  now 
living  in  Belgium,  and  without  any  traces  of  the  bones  of  the 
extinct  quadrupeds.  This  burial-place  belonged  to  the  Neo- 
cosmic  yet  prehistoric  race  which  replaced  the  Palasocosmic 
men  of  the  mammoth  age. 

What  is  the  absolute  antiquity  of  the  Palaeocosmic  age  in 
Europe .''  We  have  no  monumental  or  historical  chronology 
to  answer  this  question,  but  only  the  measures  of  time  fur- 
nished by  the  accumulation  of  deposits,  by  the  deposition  of 
stalagmite,  by  the  gradual  extinction  of  animals,  and  by  the 
erosion  of  valleys  and  other  physical  changes.  These  some- 
what loose  measures  have  been  applied  in  various  ways,  but 
the  tendency  of  geologists,  from  the  prevalence  of  uniformi- 
tarian  views,  and  the  prejudice  created  by  familiarity  with 
the  long  times  of  previous  geologic  periods,  has  been  to  as- 
sign to  them  too  great  rather  than  too  little  value,  both  as 
measures  of  time  and  as  indicating  a  remote  antiquity. 

With  reference  to  the  accumulation  of  deposits,  whether 
derived  from  disintegration  of  the  roof  and  walls  of  the  cave, 
introduced  by  land  floods  or  river  inundations  or  by  the 
residence  of  man,  their  rate  is  of  very  difficult  estimation. 
Loose  stones  fallen  from  the  roof,  as  in  the  case  of  Kent's 
Cave,  would  give  a  fair  measure  of  time  if  we  could  be  sure 


o 


lo  The  Origin  of  the  World. 


that  the  climate  had  continued  uniform,  and  that  there  had 
been  no  violent  earthquakes.  Mr.  Pengelly  has,  however, 
hopelessly  given  up  this  kind  of  evidence.  Where,  as  in  the 
case  of  many  of  these  caves,  land  floods  and  river  inundations 
have  entered,  these  may  have  been  frequent  or  separated  by 
long  intervals  of  time,  and  they  may  have  been  of  great  or 
small  amount.  Where,  for  instance,  as  in  one  of  the  Belgian 
caves,  there  are  six  beds  of  ossiferous  mud,  but  for  the  fact 
that  five  layers  of  stalagmite  separate  them  we  might  not 
have  known  whether  they  represent  six  annual  inundations, 
or  floods  separated  by  many  centuries  from  each  other. 

In  the  case  of  the  Victoria  Cave  at  Settle,  Dawkins,  reason- 
ing from  the  accumulation  of  two  feet  of  detritus  over  British 
remains  that  may  be  supposed  to  be  1200  years  old,  gives  a 
basis  which  would  at  the  same  rate  of  deposit  allow  about 
5000  years  for  the  date  of  palaeolithic  men;  but  Prestwich 
and  others,  on  the  basis  of  stalagmite  deposits,  claim  a  vastly 
higher  antiquity  for  the  men  who  made  the  implements  found 
in  Kent's  Hole  and  Brixham. 

If  we  now  turn  to  these  stalagmite  fioors,  when  we  consider 
that  they  have  been  formed  by  the  slow  solution  of  limestone 
by  rain-water  charged  with  carbonic  acid,  and  the  dropping  of 
this  water  on  the  floor,  and  when  we  are  told  that  in  Kent's 
Cavern  a  marked  date  shows  that  the  stalagmite  has  grown  at 
the  rate  of  only  one  twentieth  of  an  inch  since  1688,  and  that 
there  are  two  beds  of  stalagmite,  one  of  which  is  in  some 
places  twelve  feet  thick,  we  are  impressed  with  the  conviction 
of  a  vast  antiquity.  But  when  we  are  told  by  Dawkins  that 
the  rate  of  deposit  in  Ingleborough  Cave  may  be  estimated 
at  a  quarter  of  an  inch  per  annum,  and  when  we  consider 
that  the  present  rate  of  deposit  in  Kent's  Hole  is  probably 
very  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  former  condition  of  the 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  311 

country,  stalagmite  becomes  a  very  unsafe  measure  of  time. 
Witli  respect  again  to  tlie  accumulation  of  kitchen -midden 
stuff  in  the  course  of  the  occupancy  of  caverns,  this  proceeds 
with  great  rapidity,  when  caves  are  steadily  occupied  and  it 
is  not  the  practice  to  cleanse  out  the  debris  of  fires,  food,  and 
bedding.  Even  when  the  occupation  is  temporary,  a  tribe  of 
savages  engaged  with  the  preparation  of  dried  meat  and  pem- 
mican  in  a  very  short  time  produce  a  considerable  heap  of 
bones  and  other  rejectamenta. 

Looking  next  to  the  extinction  of  animals,  we  find  that  the 
species  found  in  the  oldest  deposits  containing  human  re- 
mains are  in  part  still  extant.  Others  which  are  locally  ex- 
tinct we  know  existed  in  Europe  until  historical  times,  that 
is,  within  the  last  two  thousand  years.  How  long  previously 
to  this  the  others  became  extinct  we  have  no  certain  means 
of  knowing,  though  it  seems  probable  that  they  disappeared 
gradually  and  successively.  We  have,  however,  farther  to 
bear  in  mind  the  possibility  of  cataclysms  or  climatal  changes 
which  may  have  proved  speedily  fatal  to  many  species  over 
large  areas.  In  any  case  we  have  this  certain  fact  that, 
though  the  time  elapsed  has  been  sufficient  for  the  extinction 
of  many  species,  it  does  not  seem  to  have  sufficed  to  effect 
any  noteworthy  change  on  those  that  survived.  Farther,  we 
may  consider  that  time  is  only  one  factor  in  this  matter,  and 
not  the  one  which  is  the  efficient  cause  of  change,  since  we 
know  no  reason  why  one  species  of  animal  should  not  con- 
tinue to  be  reproduced  as  long  as  another,  but  for  the  occur- 
rence of  physical  changes  of  a  prejudicial  character. 

We  have  still  remaining  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  the  erosion  of  valleys  since  the  caverns  were  occu- 
pied. Dupont  informs  us  that  the  openings  of  some  of  the 
caverns  once  flooded  by  rivers  are  now  in  limestone  cliffs  two 


312  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

hundred  feet  above  the  water,  while  no  appreciable  lowering 
of  the  bottoms  of  the  ravines  is  taking  place  now.  This  would 
in  some  contingencies  put  back  the  period  of  filling  of  the 
caves  to  an  indefinite  antiquity.  But  then  the  questions 
occur — Was  there  once  more  water  in  the  rivers  or  more  ob- 
struction at  their  outlets,  or  was  the  erosive  power  greater  at 
one  time  than  now,  or  were  the  river  valleys  excavated  in  still 
more  ancient  time,  and  partly  filled  with  mud  when  the  water 
entered  the  caves,  and  may  this  mud  have  been  since  swept 
away .?  So,  in  like  manner,  the  waters  flowing  in  the  channels 
near  Brixham  Cave  and  Kent's  Hole  were  apparently  about 
seventy  feet  higher  in  times  of  flood  than  at  present,  but  the 
time  involved  is  subject  to  the  same  doubts  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Belgian  caves.  Hughes  has  well  remarked  that  elevations 
of  the  land,  by  causing  rivers  to  form  waterfalls  and  cascades, 
which  they  cut  back,  may  greatly  accelerate  the  rate  of  ero- 
sion. Farther,  there  is  the  best  reason  to  believe  that  in  the 
glacial  period  many  old  valleys  were  filled  with  clay,  and  that 
the  modern  cutting  consisted  merely  in  the  removal  of  this 
clay.  Belt  has  shown  in  a  recent  paper*  good  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  this  is  the  case  with  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  that 
the  cutting  actually  effected  through  rock  within  the  later  Ple- 
istocene and  modern  period  has  been  that  only  of  the  new 
gorge  from  the  whirlpool  to  Queenstown,  the  main  part  of  the 
ravine  being  of  older  date  and  merely  re-excavated.  This 
would  greatly  reduce  the  ordinary  estimate  of  time  based  on 
the  cutting  of  the  Niagara  gorge. 

This  leads  us  next  to  consider  the  occurrence  of  human  re- 
mains and  objects  of  art  in  the  river-gravels  themselves,  and 
the  amount  of  excavation  and  deposit  involved  in  the  deposi- 

*  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science^  April,  1875. 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  313 

lion  of  these  gravels.     In  the  river-gravels  of  the  Somme,  and 
of  many  other  rivers  in  France  and  Southern  England,  chip- 
ped flints  and  rude  flint  implements  are  found  in  so  great 
quantity  as  to  imply  that  the  beds  and  banks  of  these  streams 
were  resorted  to  for  flint  material,  and  that  the  unfinished  and 
rejected  implements  left  in  the  holes  and  trenches,  or  on  the 
heaps  where  the  work  was  carried  on,  were  afterward  sorted  by 
running  water,  perhaps  in  abnormal  floods  and  debacles,  such 
as  occur  in  all  river  valleys  occasionally,  perhaps  in  that  great 
diluvial  catastrophe  which  seems  to  have  terminated  the  resi- 
dence of  Palasocosmic  man  in  Europe.    Wilson  has  well  shown 
how  the  heaps  left  by  American  tribes  in  and  near  their  flint 
quarries  would  furnish  the  material  for  such  accumulations. 
The  time  required  for  the  erosion  of  the  valleys  and  the  de- 
posit of  the  gravels  has  been  very  variously  estimated.     In 
the  case  of  the  Somme,  which  river  is  not  appreciably  deepen- 
ing its  bed,  if  we  suppose  it  to  have  cut  its  wide  valley  to  the 
depth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  out  of  solid  chalk  since 
the  so-called  "high  level"  gravels  of  France  and  the  South  of 
England  were  deposited,  the  time  required  shades  off  into  in- 
finity.    So  Evans,  in  his  work  on  "  The  Ancient  Stone  Imple- 
ments of  Great  Britain,"  looking  upon  the  amount  of  excava- 
tion of  wide  and  deep  valleys  since  the  stone  implements  of 
Bournemouth  are  supposed  to  have  been  deposited  in  gravel, 
says,  "  Who  can  fully  comprehend  how  immensely  remote  was 
the  epoch  when  that  vast  bay  was  high  and  dry  land?"  and 
he  becomes  poetical  in  delineating  the  view  that  must  have 
met  the  eyes  of  "palaeolithic"  man.     And  undoubtedly,  if 
one  is  to  be  limited  to  the  precise  nature  and  amount  of 
causes  now  at  work  in  the  district,  the  time  must  not  only  be 
"immensely  remote,"  but  inimitably  so.     The  difliculty  lies 
with  the  exaggerated  uniformitarianism  of  the  supposition  that 

O 


314  T^h^  Origin  of  the   World. 

such  causes  could  have  produced  the  results.  But,  for  rea- 
sons to  be  immediately  stated,  the  time  required  is  liable  to 
numerous  deductions;  and  recently  Tylor,  Pattison,  Collard, 
and  others  have  insisted  ably  on  these  deductions,  as  has  also 
Professor  Hughes,  of  Cambridge.  I  have  myself  urged  them 
strongly  in  the  work  already  referred  to. 

In  the  first  place,  when  we  see  a  deep  river  valley  in  which 
the  present  stream  is  doing  an  almost  infinitesimal  amount 
of  deepening,  we  are  not  to  infer  that  this  represents  all  its 
work  past  and  present.  In  times  of  unusual  flood  it  may  do 
in  one  week  more  than  in  many  previous  years.  Farther,  if 
there  have  been  elevations  or  depressions  of  the  land,  when 
the  land  has  been  raised  the  cutting  power  has  at  once  been 
enormously  increased,  and  when  depressed  it  has  been  dimin- 
ished, or  filling  has  taken  the  place  of  cutting.  Again,  if  the 
climate  in  time  past  has  been  more  extreme,  or  the  amount 
of  rainfall  greater,  the  cutting  action  has  then  been  propor- 
tionally rapid.  Perhaps  no  influence  is  greater  in  this  re- 
spect than  that  which  is  known  to  the  colonists  in  Northeast- 
ern America  as  "  ice-freshets,"  when  in  spring,  before  the  ice 
has  had  time  to  disappear  from  the  rivers,  sudden  thaws  and 
rains  produce  great  floods,  which  rushing  down  over  the  icy 
crust,  or  breaking  and  hurling  its  masses  before  them,  work  ter- 
rible havoc  on  the  banks  and  alluvial  flats,  depositing  great 
beds  of  gravel,  and  sweeping  away  immense  masses  that  had 
lain  undisturbed  for  centuries.  Now  we  know  that  in  Europe 
the  human  period  was  preceded  by  what  has  been  termed  the 
glacial  age,  and  as  it  was  passing  away  there  must  have  been 
unexampled  floods  and  ice-freshets,  and  a  temporary  "pluvial 
period,"  as  it  has  been  called,  in  which  the  volume  of  the 
rivers  was  immensely  increased.  Farther,  it  is  an  established 
fact  that  the  period  of  the  appearance  of  man  was  a  time  when 


h 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  315 

the  continents  in  the  northern  hemisphere  were  more  elevated 
than  at  present,  and  when  consequently  the  cutting  action  of 
rivers  was  at  a  maximum.  This  was  again  followed  by  a 
period  of  depression,  accompanied  probably  by  many  local 
cataclysms,  if  not  by  a  general  deluge ;  and  there  are  strong 
geological  reasons  to  believe  that  this  convulsion  was  con- 
nected with  the  disappearance  from  Europe  of  Palaeocosmic 
man,  and  many  of  the  animals  his  contemporaries.  This 
view  I  advocated  some  time  ago  in  my  "  Story  of  the  Earth ;" 
and  more  recently  Mr.  Pattison,  in  an  able  paper  read  be-  r 
fore  the  Victoria  Institute,  has  developed  it  in  greater  detail, 
and  supported  it  by  a  great  mass  of  geological  authority. 
If  the  Palaeocosmic  period  was  one  of  continental  elevation, 
when  the  greater  seats  of  population  were  in  the  valleys  of 
great  rivers  now  covered  by  the  German  Ocean  and  the  En- 
glish Channel,  and  when  the  valleys  of  the  Thames  and  the 
Somme  were  those  of  upland  streams  frequented  by  straggling 
parties  and  small  tribes,  and  the  seats  of  extensive  flint  facto- 
ries for  the  supply  of  the  plains  below,  and  if  this  state  of 
things  was  terminated  by  a  diluvial  debacle,  we  can  account 
for  all  the  phenomena  of  the  drift  implements  without  any 
extravagant  estimate  of  time. 

I  quote  with  much  pleasure  on  this  subject  the  following 
from  the  report  of  a  lecture  on  "  Geological  Measures  of 
Time,"  by  Professor  Hughes,  before  the  Royal  Institution 
of  London.  Hughes  was,  like  myself,  a  companion  of  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  in  some  of  his  journeys,  though  belonging  to 
a  younger  generation  of  geologists,  and  is  an  accurate  ob- 
server and  reasoner. 

"  Another  method  of  estimating  the  lapse  of  time  is  found- 
ed upon  the  supposed  rate  at  which  rivers  scoojd  out  their 
channels.     Although  no  very  exact  estimates  have  been  at- 


3i6  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

tempted,  still  the  immense  quantity  of  work  that  has  been 
done,  as  compared  with  the  slow  rate  at  which  a  river  is  now 
excavating  that  same  part  of  the  valley,  is  often  appealed  to 
as  a  proof  of  a  great  lapse  of  time. 

"  The  fact  of  such  an  enormous  lapse  of  time  is  not  ques- 
tioned, but  this  part  of  the  evidence  is  challenged. 

"  The  previous  considerations  of  the  rate  of  accumulation 
of  silt  on  the  low  lands  prepares  us  to  inquire  whether  there 
is  any  waste  at  all  along  the  alluvial  plains.  Several  examples 
were  given  to  show  that  the  lowering  of  valleys  was  brought 
about  by  receding  rapids  and  waterfalls ;  for  instance,  follow- 
ing up  the  Rhine,  its  terraces  could  often  be  traced  back  to 
where  the  waterfall  was  seen  to  produce  at  once  almost  all 
the  difference  of  level  between  the  river  reaches  above  and 
below  it.  At  Schaffhausen  the  river  terrace  below  the  hotel 
could  be  traced  back  and  found  to  be  continuous  with  the 
river  margin  above  the  fall.  The  wide  plains  occurring  here 
and  there,  such  as  the  Mayence  basin,  were  due  to  the  river 
being  arrested  by  the  hard  rocks  of  the  gorges  below  Bingen 
so  long  that  it  had  time  to  wind  from  side  to  side  through  the 
soft  rocks  above  the  gorges.  When  waterfalls  cut  back  to 
such  basins  or  to  lakes  they  would  recede  rapidly,  tapping 
the  waters  of  the  lake,  eating  back  the  soft  beds  of  the  alluvial 
plains,  and  probably  in  both  cases  leaving  terraces  as  evidence, 
not  of  upheavals  or  of  convulsions,  but  of  the  arrival  of  a  wa- 
terfall which  had  been  gradually  travelling  up  the  valley.  So 
when  the  Rhone  cuts  back  from  the  falls  at  Belgarde  we  shall 
have  terraces  where  now  is  the  shore  of  Geneva;  so  also  when 
the  Falls  of  Schaffhausen,  and  ages  afterward  when  the  Falls 
of  Laufenburg  have  tapped  the  Lake  of  Constance,  there  will 
be  terraces  marking  its  previous  levels.  And  so  we  may  ex- 
plain the  former  greater  extent  of  the  Lake  of  Zurich,  which 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  317 

stood  higher  and  spread  wider  by  Utznach  and  Wetzikon  before 
it  was  tapped  by  the  arrival  of  waterfalls,  which  cut  back  into  it 
and  let  its  waters  run  off  until  they  fell  to  their  present  level. 

"  A  small  upheaval  near  the  mouth  of  a  river  would  have  a 
similar  effect.  The  Thames  below  London  and  the  Somme 
below  St.  Acheul  can  now  only  just  hand  on  the  mud  brought 
down  from  higher  ground;  but  suppose  an  elevation  of  a 
hundred  feet  over  those  parts  of  England  and  France  (quite 
imperceptible  if  extended  over  10,000,  1000,  or  even  100 
years),  and  the  rivers  would  tumble  over  soft  mud  and  clay 
and  chalk,  and  soon  eat  their  way  back  from  Sheppey  to 
London,  and  from  St.  Valery  to  Amiens. 

"  So  when  we  want  to  estimate  the  age  of  the  gravels  on 
the  top  of  the  cliff  at  the  Reculvers,  or  on  the  edge  of  the 
plateau  of  St.  Acheul,  we  have  to  ask,  not  how  long  would  it 
take  the  rivers  to  cut  down  to  their  present  level  from  the 
height  of  those  gravels  at  the  rate  at  which  that  part  of  their 
channel  is  being  lowered  now,  but  how  long  would  it  take  the 
Somme  or  Thames,  which  once  ran  at  the  level  of  those  grav- 
els, to  cut  back  from  where  its  mouth  or  next  waterfall  was 
then  to  where  it  runs  over  rapids  now.  We  ought  to  know 
what  movements  of  upheaval  and  depression  there  have  been ; 
what  long  alluvial  flats  or  lakes  which  may  have  checked 
floods,  but  also  arrested  the  rock-protecting  gravel ;  how  much 
the  wash  of  the  estuarine  waves  has  helped.  In  fact,  it  is 
clear  that  observations  made  on  the  action  of  the  rivers  at 
those  points  now  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  calculation  of 
the  age  of  the  terraces  above,  and  that  the  circumstances 
upon  which  the  rate  of  recession  of  the  waterfalls  and  rapids 
depends  are  so  numerous  and  changeable  that  it  is  at  present 
unsafe  to  attempt  any  estimate  of  the  time  required  to  pro- 
duce the  results  observed." 


3 1 8  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

I  may  close  this  discussion  by  quoting  from  the  paper  of 
my  friend  Mr.  Pattison,  already  referred  to,  the  following 
summing  up  of  his  conclusions,  in  which  I  fully  concur  : 

"We  may  assume  it  as  established  that  there  was  a  time 
when  England  was  connected  with  the  Continent,  when  big 
animals  roamed  in  summer  up  the  watercourses  and  across 
the  uplands,  and  man,  armed  only  with  rude  stones,  followed 
them  into  the  marshes  and  woods,  hunted  them  for  sustenance, 
and  consumed  them  in  shelter  of  caves,  then  accessible  from 
the  river  levels.  This  state  of  things  was  continued  until  dis- 
turbed by  oscillations  of  surface,  accompanied  by  excessive 
rainfalls  and  rushes  of  water  from  the  water-sheds  of  the  riv- 
ers, until  the  great  animals  were  driven  out  or  destroyed,  and 
man  ceased  to  visit  these  parts.  The  disturbances  continued, 
the  Strait  of  Dover  was  formed,  the  configuration  of  the  soft 
parts  of  the  islands  and  continents  was  fixed,  action  subsided, 
and  the  present  state  of  things  obtained.  Man  resumed  his 
residence,  but  with  loss  of  the  mammoth  and  its  comjDanions. 
The  reindeer  now  constituted  the  type  of  a  state  of  things 
which  lasted  down  to  the  historic  period,  without  any  other 
from  that  time  to  this.  *  *  * 

"Chronologists  are  agreed  that  about  2000  years  B.C.  Abra- 
ham migrated  from  Mesopotamia  to  Canaan,  and  that  at  this 
time  Egypt  at  least  was  old  in  civilization.  Beyond  this  w^e 
have  no  positive  scale  of  time  in  Scripture  ;  for  it  is  evident, 
from  the  narrative  itself,  that  the  latter  does  not  cover  the 
whole  time.  *  *  -^ 

"  Ussher  estimates  from  Scripture  the  creation  of  man  as 
about  2000  years  before  this.  During  the  latter  portion  of 
this  time  civilization  was  proceeding  under  settled  govern- 
ments in  the  East,  interrupted,  says  the  record  and  tradition, 
by  a  flood.  ^  *  * 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man,  319 

"  So  Lucretius : 

'  Thus,  too,  the  insurgent  waters  once  o'erpowered, 
As  fables  tell,  and  deluged  many  a  state  5 
Till,  in  its  turn,  the  congregated  waves 
By  cause  more  potent  conquered,  heaven  restrain'd 
Its  ceaseless  torrents,  and  the  flood  decreased.' 

Barbarism  covered  the  whole  Western  world;  neither  in  the 
2000  years  before  Abraham,  nor  in  the  2000  years  afterward, 
have  we  any  light  reflected  from  these  regions  to  the  East. 
In  this  4000  years,  or  in  the  somewhat  longer  period  which 
probably  will  be  ultimately  settled  as  warranted  by  the  rec- 
ord, we  place  hypothetically  all  the  phenomena  of  the  later 
mammalian  age,  including  the  introduction  of  man  as  a  hunt- 
er, the  first  occupation  of  the  caves  by  him  also,  the  diluvial 
phenomena  of  the  wide  valleys,  the  oscillations  and  disturb- 
ances of  the  earth's  crust,  alterations  in  the  coast-line,  and 
ph3^sical  settlement  of  the  country;  after  this  comes  the  sec- 
ond occupation  of  the  caves.  In  short,  if  we  say  that,  hypo- 
thetically, the  whole  first  known  human  age  occurred  within 
4000  years  of  the  Christian  era,  no  one  can  say  that  it  is 
geologically  impossible.  Who  can  say  that  1643  years  is  in- 
sufficient to  comprise  all  the  phenomena  that  occurred  dur- 
ing a  period  confessedly  characterized  by  more  rapid  and  ex- 
tensive action  than  at  present — a  period  during  which  rup- 
tures in  the  earth's  crust,  oscillations,  and  permanent  uprising 
took  place,  and  the  intermittent  action  of  violent  floods  caused 
the  deposit,  and  disturbance  and  resettlement  of  the  gravels 
and  brick-earth  ?  There  is  nothing  to  interfere  with  the  prev- 
alent opinion  that  man  was  introduced  here  while  the  glacial 
period  was  dying  out,  and  while  it  was  still  furnishing  flood- 
waters  sufficient  to  scour  and  re-sort  the  gravels  of  the  valleys 
down  which  they  flowed.  This  supposition  may  be  extended 
to  both  the  great  continents." 


-1 


20  The  Origin  of  the  World. 


To  conclude  :  Our  mode  of  reconciling  the  Mosaic  history 
of  antediluvian  man  with  the  disclosures  of  the  gravels  and 
caves  would  be  to  identify  Palaiocosmic  man,  or  man  of  the 
mammoth  age,  with  antediluvian  man;  to  suppose  that  the 
changes  which  closed  his  existence  in  Europe  as  well  as 
Western  Asia  were  those  recorded  in  the  Noachian  deluge; 
and  that  the  second  colonization  of  the  diminished  and 
shrunken  Europe  of  the  modern  period  was  effected  by  the 
descendants  of  Noah.  It  may  be  asked — Must  we  suppose 
that  the  Adam  of  the  Bible  was  of  the  type  of  the  coarsely 
featured  and  gigantic  men  of  the  European  caverns  ?  I 
would  answer — Not  precisely  so ;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
Adam  may  have  been  Turanian  in  feature.  We  should  cer- 
tainly suppose  him  to  have  been  a  man  well  developed  in 
brain  and  muscle.  Such  men  as  those  found  in  the  caves 
would  rather  represent  the  ruder  "  Nephelim,"  the  "  giants 
that  were  in  those  days,"  than  Adam  in  Eden.  Farther,  the 
new  colonists  of  Europe  after  the  deluge  would  no  doubt  be 
a  very  rude  and  somewhat  degenerate  branch  of  Noachidae, 
probably  driven  before  more  powerful  tribes  in  the  course  of 
the  dispersion.  The  higher  races  of  both  periods  are  prob- 
ably to  be  looked  for  in  Western  Asia ;  but  even  there  we 
must  expect  to  find  cave  men  like  those  whose  remains  were 
found  by  Tristram  in  the  caves  near  Tyre,  and  like  the  Horim 
of  Moses;  and  we  must  also  expect  to  find  the  antediluvian 
age  in  the  main  an  age  of  stone  everywhere,  and  its  arts,  ex- 
cept in  certain  great  centres  of  population,  perhaps  not  more 
advanced  than  those  of  the  Polynesians,  or  those  of  the  agri- 
cultural American  tribes  before  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus. 

As  a  geologist,  and  as  one  who  has  been  in  the  main  of 
the  school  of  Lyell,  and  after  having  observed  with  much 


Unity  and  Antiquity  of  Man.  321 

care  the  deposits  of  the  more  modern  periods  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic,  I  have  from  the  first  dissented  from  those  of 
my  scientific  brethren  who  have  unhesitatingly  given  their 
adhesion  to  the  long  periods  claimed  for  human  history,  and 
have  maintained  that  their  hasty  conclusions  on  this  subject 
must  bring  geological  reasoning  into  disrepute,  and  react  inju- 
riously on  our  noble  science.  We  require  to  make  great 
demands  on  time  for  the  pre-human  periods  of  the  earth's 
history,  but  not  more  than  sacred  history  is  willing  to  allow 
for  the  modern  or  human  age. 

O  2 


322  The  Origin  of  the  World. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

COMPARISONS  AND  CONCLUSIONS. 

"  Lo,  these  are  but  the  outlines  of  his  ways,  and  how  faint  the  whisper 
which  we  hear  of  him — the  thunder  of  his  power  who  could  understand  ?" 
— Job  xxvi.,  14. 

In  the  preceding  pages  I  have,  as  far  as  possible,  avoided 
that  mode  of  treating  my  subject  which  was  wont  to  be  ex- 
pressed as  the  "reconciliation"  of  Scripture  and  Natural  Sci- 
ence, and  have  followed  the  direct  guidance  of  the  IMosaic 
record,  only  turning  aside  where  some  apt  illustration  or  co- 
incidence could  be  perceived.  In  the  present  chapter  I  pro- 
pose to  inquire  what  the  science  of  the  earth  teaches  on  these 
same  subjects,  and  to  point  out  certain  manifest  and  remark- 
able correspondences  between  these  teachings  and  those  of 
revelation.  Here  I  know  that  I  enter  on  dangerous  ground, 
and  that  if  I  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  carry  the  intelligent 
reader  with  me  thus  far,  I  may  chance  to  lose  him  now.  The 
Hebrew  Scriptures  are  common  property;  no  one  can  fairly 
deny  me  the  right  to  study  them,  even  though  I  do  so  in  no 
clerical  or  theological  capacity;  and  even  if  I  should  appear 
extreme  in  some  of  my  views,  or  venture  to  be  almost  as  enthu- 
siastic as  the  commentators  of  Homer,  Shakespeare,  or  Dante, 
I  can  not  be  very  severely  blamed.  But  the  direct  compari- 
son of  these  ancient  records  with  results  of  modern  science 
is  obnoxious  to  many  minds  on  different  grounds;  and  all  the 
more  so  that  so  few  men  are  at  once  students  both  of  nature 


CojJiparisojis  and  Conclusions.  323 

and  revelation.     There  are,  as  yet,  but  few  even  of  educated 
men  whose  range  of  study  has  included  any  thing  that  is  prac- 
tical or  useful  either  in  Hebrew  literature  or  geological  sci- 
ence.    That  slipshod  Christianity  which  contents  itself  with 
supposing  that  conclusions  which  are  false  in  nature  may  be 
true  in  theology  is  mere  superstition  or  professional  priest- 
craft, and  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  Bible ;  but  there 
are  still  multitudes  of  good  men,  trained  in  the  verbal  and 
abstract  learning  which  at  one  time  constituted  nearly  the 
whole  of  education,  who  regard  geology  as  a  mass  of  crude 
hypotheses  destitute  of  coherence,  a  perpetual  battle-ground 
of  conflicting  opinions,  all  destined  in  time  to  be  swept  away. 
It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  from  the  nature  of  geological 
evidence,  and  from  the  liability  to  error  in  details,  the  solidity 
of  its  conclusions  is  not  likely  soon  to  be  appreciated  as  fully 
as  is  desirable  by  the  common  mind ;  while  it  is  unfortunately 
true  that  the  outskirts  of  science  are  infested  with  hosts  of 
half-informed  and  superficial  writers,  who  state  these  conclu- 
sions incorrectly,  or  apply  them  in  an  unreasonable  manner 
to  matters  on  which  they  have  no  bearing.     On  the  other 
hand,  the  geologist,  fully  aware  of  the  substantial  nature  of 
the  foundations  of  the  science  of  the  earth,  regards  it  as  little 
less  than  absurd  to  find  parallels  to  its  principles  in  an  an- 
cient theological  work.     Still  there  are  possible  meeting-points 
of  things  so  dissimilar  as  Bible  lore  and  geological  exploration. 
If  man  is  a  being  connected  on  the  one  hand  with  material 
nature,  and  on  the  other  with  the   spiritual  essence  of  the 
Creator;  if  that  Creator  has  given  to  man  powers  of  exploring 
and  comprehending  his  plans  in  the  universe,  and  at  the  same 
time  has  condescended  to  reveal  to  him  directly  his  will  on 
certain  points,  there  is  nothing  unphilosophical  or  improbable 
in  the  supposition  that  the  same  truths  may  be  struck  out  on 


324  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

the  one  hand  by  the  action  of  the  human  mind  on  nature,  and 
on  the  other  by  the  action  of  the  Divine  mind  on  that  of  man. 
The  highest  and  most  nobly  constituted  minds  have  ever  been 
striving  to  scale  heaven  above  and  dive  into  the  earth  below, 
that  they  may  extort  from  them  the  secret  of  their  origin,  and 
may  find  what  are  the  privileges  and  destinies  of  man  himself. 
They  have  learned  much ;  and  if  through  other  gifted  minds, 
and  through  his  heaven-descended  Word  and  Spirit,  God  has 
condescended  to  reveal  himself,  there  must  surely  be  much 
in  common  in  that  which  God's  works  teach  to  earnest  in- 
quirers and  that  which  he  directly  makes  known.  But  few  of 
our  greatest  thinkers,  whether  on  nature  or  theology,  have 
reached  the  firm  ground  of  this  higher  probability;  or  if  they 
have  reached  it,  have  dreaded  the  scorn  of  the  half-learned 
too  much  to  utter  their  convictions.  Still  this  is  a  position 
which  the  enlightened  Christian  and  student  of  nature  must 
be  prepared  to  occup}'',  humbly  and  with  admission  of  much 
ignorance  and  incapacity,  but  with  bold  assertion  of  the  truth 
that  there  are  meeting-points  of  nature  and  revelation  which 
afford  legitimate  subjects  of  study. 

In  entering  on  these  subjects,  we  may  receive  certain  great 
truths  in  reference  to  the  history  of  the  earth  as  established 
by  geological  evidence.  In  the  present  rapidly  progressive 
state  of  the  science,  however,  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  sepa- 
rate its  assured  and  settled  results  from  those  that  have  been 
founded  on  too  hasty  generalization,  or  are  yet  immature ; 
and  at  the  same  time  to  avoid  overlooking  new  and  impor- 
tant truths,  sufficiently  established,  yet  not  known  in  all  their 
dimensions.  In  the  following  summary  I  shall  endeavor  to 
present  to  the  reader  only  well -ascertained  general  truths, 
without  indulging  in  those  deviations  from  accuracy  for  effect 
too  often  met  with  in  popular. books.     On  the  other  hand,  we 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions,  325 

have  already  found  that  the  Scriptures  enunciate  distinct  doc- 
trines on  many  points  relating  to  the  earth's  early  history,  to 
which  it  will  here  be  necessary  merely  to  refer  in  general 
terms.  Let  us  in  the  first  place  shortly  consider  the  conclu- 
sions of  geology  as  to  the  origin  and  progress  of  creation. 

I.  The  widest  and  most  important  generalization  of  mod- 
ern geology  is  that  all  the  materials  of  the  earth's  crust,  to 
the  greatest  depth  that  man  can  reach,  either  by  actual  exca- 
vation or  inference  from  superficial  arrangements,  are  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  prove  that  they  are  not,  in  their  present  state, 
original  portions  of  the  earth's  structure ;  but  that  they  are 
the  results  of  the  operation,  during  long  periods,  of  the  causes 
of  change — whether  mechanical,  chemical,  or  vital — now  in 
operation,  on  the  land,  in  the  seas,  and  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth.  For  example,  the  most  common  rocks  of  our  conti- 
nents are  conglomerates,  sandstones,  shales,  and  slates ;  all 
of  which  are  made  up  of  the  debris  of  older  rocks  broken 
down  into  gravel,  sand,  or  mud,  and  then  re-cemented.  To 
these  we  may  add  limestones,  which  have  been  made  up  by 
the  accumulation  of  corals  and  shells,  or  by  deposits  from 
calcareous  springs ;  coal,  composed  of  vegetable  matter ; 
and  granite,  syenite,  greenstone,  and  trap,  which  are  molten 
rocks  formed  in  the  manner  of  modern  lavas.  So  general 
has  been  this  sorting,  altering,  and  disturbance  of  the  sub- 
stance of  the  earth's  crust,  that,  though  we  know  its  structure 
over  large  portions  of  our  continents  to  the  depth  of  several 
miles,  the  geologist  can  point  to  no  instance  of  a  truly  primi- 
tive rock  which  can  be  affirmed  to  have  remained  unchanged 
and  in  situ  since  the  beginning. 

"  All  are  aware  that  the  solid  parts  of  the  earth  consist  of 
distinct  substances,  such  as  clay,  chalk,  sand,  limestone,  coal, 
slate,  granite,  and  the  like;  but,  previously  to  observation,  it 


326  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

is  commonly  imagined  that  all  had  remained  from  the  first  in 
the  state  in  which  we  now  see  them — that  they  were  created 
in  their  present  forms  and  in  their  present  position.  The 
geologist  now  comes  to  a  different  conclusion ;  discovering 
proofs  that  the  external  parts  of  the  earth  were  not  all  pro- 
duced in  the  beginning  of  things  in  the  state  in  which  we 
now  behold  them,  nor  in  an  instant  of  time.  On  the  contrary, 
he  can  show  that  they  have  acquired  their  actual  condition 
and  configuration  gradually  and  at  successive  periods,  dur- 
ing each  of  which  distinct  races  of  living  beings  have  flour- 
ished on  the  land  and  in  the  waters ;  the  remains  of  these 
creatures  lying  buried  in  the  crust  of  the  earth.'"^ 

2.  Having  ascertained  that  the  rocks  of  the  earth  have 
thus  been  produced  by  secondary  causes,  we  next  affirm,  on 
the  evidence  of  geology,  that  a  distinct  order  of  succession 
of  these  deposits  can  be  ascertained  ;  and  though  there  are 
innumerable  local  variations  in.  the  nature  of  the  rocks  form- 
ed at  the  same  period,  yet  there  is,  on  the  great  scale,  a  reg- 
ular sequence  of  formations  over  the  whole  earth.  This  suc- 
cession is  of  the  greatest  importance  in  the  case  of  aqueous 
rocks,  or  those  formed  in  water ;  and  it  is  evident  that  in  the 
case  of  beds  of  sand,  clay,  etc.,  deposited  in  this  way,  the  up- 
per must  be  the  more  recent  of  any  two  layers.  This  simple 
principle,  complicated  in  various  ways  by  the  fractures  and 
disturbances  to  which  the  beds  have  been  subjected,  forms 
the  basis  of  the  succession  of  "  formations  "  in  geology  as 
deduced  from  stratigraphical  evidence. 

3.  This  regular  series  of  formations  would  be  of  little  value 
as  a  history  of  the  earth  were  it  not  that  nearly  all  the  aque- 
ous rocks  contain  remains  of  the  contemporary  animals  and 

*  Lyell's  "Manual  of  Elementary  Geology." 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  327 

plants.  Ever  since  the  earth  began  to  be  tenanted  by  organ- 
ized beings,  the  various  accumulations  formed  in  the  bottoms 
of  seas  and  at  the  mouths  of  rivers  have  entombed  remains 
of  marine  animals,  more  especially  their  harder  parts,  as 
shells,  corals,  and  bones,  and  also  fragments  or  entire  speci- 
mens of  land  animals  and  plants.  Hence,  in  any  rock  of 
aqueous  formation,  we  may  find  fossil  remains  of  the  living 
creatures  that  existed  in  the  waters  in  which  that  rock  was 
accumulated  or  on  the  neighboring  land.  If  in  the  process 
of  building  up  the  continents,  the  same  locality  constituted 
in  succession  a  part  of  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  of  an  inland 
sea,  of  an  estuary,  and  a  lake,  we  should  find  in  the  fossil 
remains  entombed  in  the  deposits  of  that  place  evidences  of 
these  various  conditions;  and  thus  a  somewhat  curious  history 
of  local  changes  might  be  obtained.  Geology  affords  more 
extensive  disclosures  of  this  nature.  It  shows  that  as  we  de- 
scend into  the  older  formations  we  gradually  lose  sight  of  the 
existing  animals  and  plants,  and  find  the  remains  of  others 
not  now  existing ;  and  these,  in  turn,  themselves  disappear, 
and  were  preceded  by  others  ;  so  that  the  whole  living  popu- 
lation of  the  earth  appears  to  have  been  several  times  re- 
newed prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  order  of  things. 
This  seems  farther  to  have  occurred  in  a  slow  and  gradual 
manner,  not  by  successive  great  cataclysms  or  clearances 
of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  followed  by  wholesale  renewal. 
This  doctrine  of  geological  uniformity  is,  however,  to  be  un- 
derstood as  limited  by  the  equally  certain  fact  that  there  has 
been  progress  and  advance,  both  in  the  inorganic  arrange- 
ments of  the  earth's  surface  and  in  its  organized  inhabitants, 
and  that  there  have,  in  geological  as  in  historical  times,  been 
local  cataclysms  and  convulsions,  as  those  of  earthquakes 
and  volcanoes,  often  on  a  very  extensive  scale.    Farther,  there 


328  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

are  good  reasons  to  believe  that  there  have  been  alternations 
of  cold  or  glacial  periods  and  of  warm  periods,  of  periods  of 
subsidence  and  re-elevation,  and  of  periods  of  greater  and  less 
activity  of  certain  of  the  leading  agents  of  geological  change. 
But  as  to  the  extent  of  these  differences  and  their  bearing  on 
the  geological  history,  there  is  still  much  uncertainty  and  dif- 
ference of  opinion.* 

In  the  sediment  7iow  accumulating  in  the  bottom  of  the 
waters  are  being  buried  remains  of  the  existing  animals  and 
plants.  A  geological  formation  is  being  produced,  and  it 
contains  the  skeletons  and  other  solid  parts  of  a  vast  variety 
of  creatures  belonging  to  all  climates,  and  which  have  lived 
on  land  as  well  as  in  fresh  and  salt  water.  Let  us  now  sup- 
pose that  by  a  series  of  changes,  sudden  or  gradual,  all  the 
present  organized  beings  were  swept  away,  and  that,  when 
the  earth  was  renewed  by  the  power  of  the  Creator,  a  new 
race  of  intelligent  beings  could  explore  those  parts  of  the 
former  sea  basins  that  had  been  elevated  into  land.  They 
would  find  the  remains  of  multitudes  of  creatures  not  exist- 
ing in  their  time ;  and  by  the  presence  of  these  they  could 
distinguish  the  deposits  of  the  former  period  from  those  that 
belonged  to  their  own.  They  could  also  compare  these  re- 
mains with  the  corresponding  parts  of  creatures  which  were 
their  own  contemporaries,  and  could  thus  infer  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  had  lived,  the  modes  of  subsistence  for 
which  they  had  been  adapted,  and  the  changes  in  the  distri- 
bution of  land  and  water  and  other  physical  conditions  which 
had  occurred.  This,  then,  is  precisely  the  place  which  fossil 
organic  remains  occupy  in  modern  geology,  except  that  our 


*  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject,  see  the  *'  Story  of  the  Earth 
and  Man." 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  329 

present  system  of  nature  rests  on  the  ruins,  not  of  one  pre- 
vious system,  but  of  several. 

4.  By  the  aid  of  the  superposition  of  deposits  and  their 
organic  remains,  geology  can  divide  the  history  of  the  earth 
into  distinct  periods.  These  periods  are  not  separated  by 
merely  arbitrary  boundaries,  but  to  some  extent  mark  impor- 
tant eras  in  the  progress  of  our  earth;  though  they  usually 
pass  into  each  other  at  their  confines,  and  the  nature  of  the 
evidence  prevents  us  from  ascertaining  the  precise  length  of 
the  periods  themselves,  or  the  intervals  in  time  which  may 
separate  the  several  monuments  by  which  they  are  distin- 
guished. The  following  table  will  serve  to  give  an  idea  of 
the  arrangement  at  present  generally  received,  with  some  of 
the  more  important  facts  in  the  succession  of  animal  and 
vegetable  life,  as  connected  with  our  present  subject.  It 
commences  with  the  oldest  periods  known  to  geology,  and 
gives  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  iheji/s^  appear- 
ance of  each  class,  with  a  few  notes  of  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  principal  forms.  It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind 
that  farther  discoveries  may  extend  some  classes  farther 
back  than  we  at  present  know  them,  and  that  a  more  de- 
tailed table,  descending  to  orders  and  families,  would  give  a 
more  precise  view  of  the  succession  of  life.  Farther,  the  sev- 
eral geological  formations  would  admit  of  much  subdivision, 
and  are  represented  locally  by  various  kinds  and  different 
thicknesses  of  sediment.* 

The  oldest  fossil  remains  known  are  the  Protozoa  of  the 
Laurentian  rocks.     In  the  succeeding  Cambrian  or  Primor- 


*  Such  a  table,  with  an  admirable  exposition  of  the  entire  succession,  as 
at  present  known,  is  given  in  the  Appendix  to  Lyell's  "  Students'  Manual 
of  Geology." 


330 


The  Origin  of  the  World, 


TABULAR  VIEW  OF  THE   SUCCESSION   OF   GEOLOGICAL   FORMA- 
TIONS AND  ORGANIC  REMAINS. 


PERIODS. 


I. 

Eozoic 
Period. 


II. 

Primary 

OR 

Paleozoic 
Period. 


SYSTEMS    OF 
FORMATIONS. 


CLASSES    OF    ANIMALS. 


Ancient  Metamor- 
phic  rocks  of 
Scandinavia, 
Canada,  etc. 


Cambrian 


Lower  Silurian. 


Upper  Silurian. 


Erian  or  Devo- 
nian   


Eozoon  and  probably  oth- 
er Protozoa. 


Radiata — Hydrozoa,  Ech- 
inodermata  (Cystide- 
ans). 

Molhisca  —  Brachiopoda, 
Lamellibranchiata, Gas- 
teropoda, Cephalopoda 
(Bivalve  and  Univalve 
Shell-fishes). 

Artiadata  —  Annelida, 
Crustacea  (Worms  and 
Soft  Shell-fishes  of  the 
lower  grades). 

Radiata — Anthozoa  (coral 
animals),  Echinoderma- 
ta  (sea  stars,  etc.). 

Molhisca — Polyzoa,  Tuni- 
cata. 

Other  Mollusks  and  Ar- 
ticulates as  before. 

Radiates,  Mollusks,  and 
Articulates  as  before. 

Vertebrata — First  Ganoid 
and  Placoid  Fishes. 

Artiadata  —  Insects  and 
higher  Crustaceans. 

Vertebrata  —  Fishes,  Ga- 
noid and  Placoid. 


PLANTS. 


Graphite  and 
Iron  Ores 

representing 

Vegetable 

Matter. 


Algae. 


Algae. 


Acrogenous 
Land  plants. 


Acrogens 

and  Gymno- 

sperms. 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions, 


331 


PERIODS. 


IL 

Primary 

OR 

Paleozoic 

Period 

continued. 


III. 
Secondary 

OR 

Mesozoic 
Period. 


SYSTEMS   OF 
FORMATIONS. 


CLASSES   OF   ANIMALS. 


Carboniferous.. 


Permian. 


Triassic. 


Jurassic. 


Cretaceous 


IV. 

Tertiary 

or 

Cainozoic 

Period. 


V. 

Post-Terti- 
ary OR 
Modern 
Period. 


Eocene. 


Miocene. 


Molhisca  —  P  u  1  m  o  n  a  t  a 
(Land  Snails). 

Articulata  —  Myriapods, 
Arachnidans  (Gally- 
worms,  Spiders  and 
Scorpions). 

Vertebrata  —  Batrachians 
or  Amphibians  preva- 
lent. 

Vertebrata — Lacertian  or 
Lizard-like  Reptiles. 


1 


Vertebrata — Higher  Rep- 
tiles prevalent;  Marsu- 
pial Mammals. 

Vertebrata — Great  preva- 
lence of  higher  Reptiles ; 
Fishes,  homocerque  ; 
Earliest  Birds. 

Vei-tebrata — Decadence  of 
reign  of  Reptiles  ;  Or- 
dinary Bony  fishes. 


PLANTS. 


Acrogens, 

Gymno- 

sperms,  En- 

dogens  ? 


Endogenous 
trees. 


Angiosperm- 
ous  Exogens. 


Vertebrata  —  Mammals 
prevalent,  especially 
Pachyderms ;  Cycloid 
and  Ctenoid  Fishes 
prevalent. 

First  living  Invertebrates. 

Living  Invertebrates  more 
numerous. 


p,.  (   Living  Invertebrates  still 

^  °^^"^ \       more  numerous. 


Post-Pliocene. 

Post-Glacial  and 
Recent 


First  living  Mammals. 
Living     Invertebrates 
prevalent. 

Man  and  living  Mammals, 


Exogens 
prevalent. 


Some  Mod- 
ern Species 
appear. 


Existing 
vegetation. 


332  The  Origin  of  the   World. 

dial  rocks  we  find  many  extinct  species  of  zoophytes,  shell- 
fish, and  crustaceans,  and  the  algae  or  sea-weeds.  In  the  Pa- 
laeozoic period  as  a  whole,  though  numerous  Batrachian  or  Am- 
phibian reptiles  existed  toward  its  close,  the  higher  orders  of 
fishes  seem  to  have  been  the  dominant  tribe  of  animals ;  and 
vegetation  was  nearly  limited  to  cryptogams  and  gymnosperms. 
In  the  Mesozoic  period,  though  small  mammalia  had  been 
created,  large  terrestrial  and  marine  reptiles  were  the  ruling 
race,  and  fishes  occupied  a  subordinate  position ;  while,  at 
the  close,  the  higher  orders  of  plants  took  a  prominent 
place.  In  the  Tertiary  and  Modern  eras,  the  mammalia, 
with  man,  have  assumed  the  highest  or  dominant  position 
in  nature. 

On  this  series  of  groups,  and  the  succession  of  living  beings, 
Sir.  C.  Lyell  remarks:  "It  is  not  pretended  that  the  principal 
sections  called  Primary,  Secondary,  and  Tertiary  are  of  equiv- 
alent importance,  or  that  the  subordinate  groups  comprise 
monuments  relating  to  equal  portions  of  time  or  of  the  earth's 
history.  But  we  can  assert  that  they  each  relate  to  succes- 
sive periods,  during  which  certain  animals  and  plants,  for  the 
most  part  peculiar  to  their  respective  eras,  flourished,  and 
during  which  different  kinds  of  sediment  were  deposited." 

We  have  already,  in  previous  chapters,  noticed  the  parallel- 
ism of  the  succession  of  life  in  the  earth  as  revealed  in  Gen- 
esis with  that  disclosed  by  geology;  but  this  subject  must  be 
farther  referred  to  in  the  sequel,  and  in  the  mean  time  the 
reader  may  compare  for  himself  the  succession  of  life  in  the 
table  with  that  in  the  later  creative  days. 

5.  The  lapse  of  time  embraced  in  the  geological  history  of 
the  earth  is  enormous.  Fully  to  appreciate  this  it  is  neces- 
sary to  study  the  science  in  detail,  and  to  explore  its  phenom- 
ena as  disclosed  in  actual  nature.     A  few  facts,  however,  out 


Comparisons  and  Cojiclusiojis.  333 

of  hundreds  which  might  have  been  selected,  will  suffice  to 
indicate  the  state  of  the  case.  The  delta  and  alluvial  plain 
of  the  Mississippi  have  an  area  of  more  than  12,000  square 
miles,  and  must  have  an  average  depth  of  about  800  feet. 
At  the  present  rate  of  conveyance  of  sediment  by  the  river,  it 
has  been  calculated  that  a  period  of  about  33,000  years  is  im- 
plied in  the  deposition  of- this  comparatively  modern  forma- 
tion.* To  be  quite  safe,  let  us  take  30,000  years,  and  add 
50,000  more  for  the  remainder  of  the  Post-pliocene  or  Qua- 
ternary. We  may  then  safely  multiply  this  number  by  forty, 
for  the  length  of  the  Tertiary  period.  We  may  add  three  times 
as  much  for  the  Mesozoic  period,  and  this  will  be  far  under 
the  truth.  It  will  then  be  quite  safe  to  assume  that  the  Pa- 
losozoic  period  was  three  times  as  long  as  the  Mesozoic  and 
Tertiary  together.  This  would  give  altogether,  sa}^,  5 1,280,000 
years  for  the  whole  of  geological  time  from  the  beginning  of 
the  Palaeozoic,  leaving  the  duration  of  the  Eozoic  and  previ- 
ous periods  undetermined,  but  requiring  perhaps  nearly  as 
much  time.  Great  though  these  demands  may  seem,  they 
would  be  probably  far  below  the  rigid  requirements  of  the 
case  were  it  not  for  the  probability  that  the  present  rate  of 
transference  of  material  by  the  great  river  is  less  than  it  was 
in  Post-pliocene  and  early  modern  times.  This  might  en- 
able us  to  reduce  our  estimate  considerably  within  the  scope 
of  a  hundred  millions  of  years.f  Take  another  illustration 
from  an  older   formation.      An  excellent  coast  section  at 


*  Lyell,  basing  his  calculations  on  the  surveys  of  Messrs.  Humphreys 
and  Abbott,  but  others  give  very  different  estimates. 

t  A  perfectly  parallel  example  is  that  of  the  growth  of  the  peninsula  of 
Florida  in  the  modern  period,  by  the  same  processes  now  adding  to  its 
shores ;  and  this  has  afforded  to  Professor  Agassiz  a  still  more  extended 
measure  of  the  Post-tertiary  period. 


334  '^^^^  Origm  of  the  World. 

the  Joggins,  in  Nova  Scotia,  exhibits  in  the  coal  formation 
proper  a  series  of  beds  with  erect  trunks  and  roots  of  trees 
iti  situ,  amounting  to  nearly  loo.  About  loo  forests  have 
successively  grown,  partially  decayed,  and  been  entombed  in 
muddy  and  sandy  sediment.  In  the  same  section,  including 
in  all  about  14,000  feet  of  beds,  there  are  76  seams  of  coal, 
each  of  which  can  be  proved  to  haye  taken  more  time  for  its 
accumulation  than  that  required  for  the  growth  of  a  forest. 
Supposing  all  these  separate  fossil  soils  and  coals  to  have 
been  formed  with  the  greatest  possible  rapidity,  forty  thousand 
years  would  be  a  very  moderate  calculation  for  this  portion 
of  the  Carboniferous  system  ;  and  for  aught  that  we  know 
thousands  of  years  may  be  represented  by  a  single  fossil  soil. 
But  this  is  the  age  of  only  one  member  of  the  Carboniferous 
system,  itself  only  a  member  of  the  great  Palaeozoic  group, 
and  we  have  made  no  allowance  for  the  abrasion  from  pre- 
vious rocks  and  deposition  of  the  immense  mass  of  sandy 
and  muddy  sediment  in  which  the  coals  and  forests  are  im- 
bedded, and  which  is  vastly  greater  than  the  deltas  of  the 
largest  modern  rivers. 

Considerations  of  a  physical  rather  than  of  a  geological  nat- 
ure also  give  us  long  periods  for  the  probable  existence  of  the 
earth,  though  they  serve  to  correct  somewhat  the  extravagant 
estimates  of  some  theorists.  Croll  has  based  an  interesting 
calcuration  on  the  amount  of  erosion  of  the  land  by  rivers. 
That  of  the  Mississippi  amounts  to  one  foot  in  6000  years. 
That  of  the  Ganges  gives  one  foot  in  2358  years,  the  average 
being,  say,  one  foot  in  4179  years.  Some  smaller  rivers  give 
a  much  shorter  time ;  but  the  average  of  two  great  rivers,  one 
draining  a  very  large  area  of  the  western  and  another  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  and  in  very  different  climates  and  geo- 
graphical conditions,  will  probably  be  the  most  reliable  datum. 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  335 

Croll,  however,  prefers  the  Mississippi  rate.*  If  we  estimate 
the  proportion  of  land  to  water  as  576  to  1390,  this  will  give 
for  the  entire  area  of  the  ocean  a  rate  of  deposition  of  one 
foot  in  14,400  years.  Now  the  entire  thickness  of  all  the 
stratified  rocks  is  estimated  at  72,000  feet;  and  at  this  rate 
the  enormous  time  of  1,036,800,000  years  would  be  necessary. 
But  we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  deposition  has  been  go- 
ing on  uniformly  over  the  entire  sea-bottom.  On  the  contrary, 
the  greater  part  of  it  takes  place  within  a  belt  of  about  one 
hundred  miles  from  the  coasts,  and  the  deposit  of  calcareous 
and  other  matters  over  the  remainder  will  scarcely  make  up 
for  the  portions  of  this  belt  on  which  no  deposit  is  taking 
place.  This  will  give  an  area  of  deposit  of  about  11,650,000 
square  miles,  consequently  only  one  twelfth  of  the  above  time, 
or  about  86,400,000  years,  would  be  required.  This  can  be 
but  a  very  rough  calculation ;  but  it  has  the  merit  of  squar- 
ing very  nearly  with  the  calculations  derived  from  physical 
considerations,  more  especially  by  Sir  William  Thomson, 
which  limit  the  possible  existence  of  the  earth's  solid  crust 
to  one  hundred  millions  of  years.  Similar  conclusions  have 
also  been  deduced  from  what  is  known  of  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  the  sun.  CroU's  own  ingenious  theory  of  glacial 
periods  produced  by  the  varying  eccentricity  of  the  earth's 
orbit,  along  with  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  would  give, 
according  to  him,  about  80,000  years  ago  for  the  date  of  the 
Glacial  period,  and  for  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  period 
about  3,000,000  3'ears  ago. 

It  would  thus  appear  that  physical  and  geological  science 


*  Reade,  of  Liverpool,  has  recently  given  a  much  slower  rate — one  foot 
in  13,000  years — as  a  result  of  recent  English  surveys  ;  but  I  have  not  seen 
his  precise  data,  and  the  result  certainly  differs  from  those  of  all  other 
observations. 


33^  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

conspire  in  assigning  a  great  antiquity  to  the  eartli,  but  not 
an  unlimited'  antiquity.  They  agree  in  restricting  the  ages 
that  have  elapsed  since  the  introduction  of  life  within  one 
hundred  millions  of  years.  I  confess,  however,  that  a  con- 
sideration of  the  fact  that  all  our  geological  measures  of  ero- 
sion and  deposition  seem  to  be  based  on  cases  which  refer 
to  what  may  be  termed  minimum  action  leads  me  to  believe 
that  the  actual  time  will  fall  very  far  within  this  limit.  For 
example,  if  we  were  to  suppose  an  elevation  of  the  land 
drained  by  the  Mississippi  even  to  a  small  amount,  its  cutting 
power  would  be  vastly  increased  for  a  long  time.  The  same 
effect  would  result  from  a  subsidence  and  re-elevation,  or 
from  any  cause  increasing  the  amount  of  rainfall  or  deposi- 
tion of  snows  in  winter.  Now  we  know  that  such  things 
have  occurred  in  the  past,  while  we  have  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  amount  of  action  was  ever  much  less  than  at 
present.  Similar  considerations  apply  to  nearly  all  our  geo- 
logical measures  of  time  ;  and  there  has  been  a  tendency 
to  exaggerate  these,  as  if  geologists  were  entitled  to  demand 
unlimited  time,  and  to  stretch  the  doctrine  of  uniformity  to 
the  utmost. 

6.  During  the  whole  time  referred  to  by  geology,  the  great 
laws  both  of  inorganic  and  organic  nature  have  been  the  same 
as  at  present.  The  evidence  of  light  and  darkness,  of  sun- 
shine and  shower,  of  summer  and  winter,  and  of  all  tfie  known 
igneous  and  aqueous  causes  of  change,  extends  back  almost, 
and  in  some  of  these  cases  altogether,  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Paleozoic  period.  In  like  manner  the  animals  and  plants 
of  the  oldest  rocks  are  constructed  on  the  same  physiological 
and  anatomical  principles  with  existing  tribes,  and  they  can 
be  arranged  in  the  same  genera,  orders,  or  classes,  though 
specifically  distinct.     The  revolutions  of  the  globe  have  in- 


Coviparisoiis  and  Conclusions.  337 

volved  no  change  of  the  general  laws  of  matter ;  and  though 
it  is  possible  that  geology  has  carried  us  back  to  the  time 
when  the  laws  that  regulate  life  began  to  operate,  it  does  not 
show  that  they  were  less  perfect  than  now,  and  it  indicates  no 
trace  of  the  beginning  of  the  inorganic  laws.  Geological 
changes  have  resulted  not  from  the  institution  of  new  laws, 
but  from  new  dispositions,  under  existing  laws  and  general 
arrangements.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  the 
inorganic  world  these  dispositions  have  required  no  new  crea- 
tive interpositions  during  the  time  to  which  geology  refers, 
but  merely  the  continued  action  of  the  properties  bestowed 
on  matter  when  first  produced.  In  the  organic  world  the  case 
is  different. 

7.  In  the  succession  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  we  find 
a  constant  improvement  and  advance  by  the  introduction  of 
new  types  of  being.  We  have  already  given  a  general  outline 
of  this  advancement  of  organized  nature.  It  has  consisted 
in  the  introduction,  from  time  to  time,  of  new  and  more  highly 
organized  beings,  so  as  at  once  to  increase  the  variety  of  nat- 
ure, and  to  provide  for  the  elevation  of  the  summit  of  the 
graduated  scale  of  life  to  higher  and  higher  points.  At  the 
same  time,  in  each  successive  period,  it  has  been  the  law  of 
creation  that  the  forms  of  life  then  dominant  should  attain 
their  highest  development,  and  should  then  be  succeeded  by 
more  advanced  types.  For  instance,  in  the  earlier  Palaeozoic 
period  we  have  molluscous  animals  and  fishes,  then  apparent- 
ly the  highest  forms  of  life,  appearing  with  a  very  advanced 
organization,  not  surpassed,  if  even  equalled,  in  modern  times. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  same  period,  some  lower  forms  of  veg- 
etable life,  now  restricted  to  a  comparatively  humble  place, 
were  employed  to  constitute  magnificent  forests.  In  the  Me- 
sozoic  period,  again,  reptiles  attained  to  their  highest  point 

P 


338  The  Origin  of  the  World, 

in  organization  and  variety  of  form  and  employment,  while 
mammalia  had  as  yet  scarcely  appeared.* 

8.  If  now  we  ask  in  what  manner  the  succession  of  life  on 
the  earth  has  been  produced,  two  apparently  opposite  hypoth- 
eses rise  before  us.  The  one  is  that  of  introduction  of  new 
species  by  creative  acts,  the  other  that  of  development  of  new 
species  by  changes  of  those  previously  existing.  In  one  re- 
spect the  difference  of  these  views  is  little  more  than  one  of 
expression,  for  the  meaning  of  the  statements  depends  on 
what  we  understand  by  a  species  and  what  by  a  mere  varietal 
form,  and  also  on  what  we  understand  by  creation  and  what  we 
mean  by  development.  Twenty  years  ago  nearly  all  geologists 
were  believers  in  creation,  though  it  must  be  admitted  with- 
out precisely  understanding  what  they  meant  by  the  term. 
Now,  the  great  impression  produced  by  Darwin's  speculations 
and  the  prevalence  of  the  evolutionist  philosojDhy  have  pro- 
duced a  leaning  in  the  other  direction.  More  recently,  how- 
ever, the  absurdities  into  which  the  extreme  evolutionists  find 
themselves  driven  have  produced  a  reaction  ;  and  we  hope 
that  views  consistent  with  revelation,  or  at  least  with  Theism, 
will  again  be  in  the  ascendant,  and  that  present  controversies 
will  serve  to  give  more  precise  and  definite  views  than  here- 
tofore of  the  relation  of  nature  to  God.     As  illustrations  of 


*  I  am  quite  aware  that  it  may  be  objected  to  all  this  that  it  is  based  on 
merely  negative  evidence ;  but  this  is  not  strictly  the  case.  There  are 
positive  indications  of  these  truths.  For  example,  in  the  Mesozoic  epoch 
the  lacertian  reptiles  presented  huge  elephantine  carnivorous  and  herbiv- 
orous species — the  Megalosaurus,  Iguanodon,  etc.;  flying  species,  with  hol- 
low bones  and  ample  wings — the  Pterodactyles ;  and  aquatic  whale-like 
species  —  Pliosaurus,  Ichthyosaurus,  etc.  These  creatures  actually  filled 
the  offices  now  occupied  by  the  mammals  ;  and,  though  lacertian  in  their 
affinities,  they  must  have  had  circulatory,  respiratory,  and  nervous  sys- 
tems far  in  advance  of  any  modern  reptiles  even  of  the  order  of  Loricates. 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  339 

the  opinions  prevalent  before  the  rise  of  the  development 
theory,  I  may  quote  from  Pictet  and  Bronn,  two  of  the  most 
eminent  palceontologists. 

Pictet  says,  in  the  introduction  to  his  "  Traite  de  Paleon- 
tologie :"  "  It  seems  to  me  impossible  that  we  should  admit, 
as  an  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  successive  faunas,  the 
passage  of  species  into  one  another ;  the  limits  of  such  tran- 
sitions of  species,  even  supposing  that  the  lapse  of  a  vast  pe- 
riod of  time  may  have  given  them  a  character  of  reality  much 
greater  than  that  which  the  study  ofexisting  nature  leads  us 
to  suppose,  are  still  infinitely  within  those  differences  which 
distinguish  two  successive  faunas.  Lastly,  we  can  least  of  all 
account  by  this  theory  for  the  appearance  of  new  types^  to  ex- 
plain the  introduction  of  which  we  must  necessarily,  in  the 
present  state  of  science,  recur  to  the  idea  of  distinct  creations 
posterior  to  the  first." 

The  following  are  the  general  conclusions  of  Bronn,  in  his 
elaborate  and  most  valuable  essay,  presented  to  the  French 
Academy  in  1856,  as  summarized  in  a  notice  of  the  work  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society : 

"  I.  The  first  productions  of  this  power  in  the  oldest  Neptu- 
nian strata  of  the  earth  consisted  of  Plants,  Zoophytes,  Mol- 
lusks,  Crustaceans,  and  perhaps  even  Fish  ;  the  simultaneous 
appearance  of  which,  therefore,  contradicts  the  assumption 
that  the  more  perfect  organic  forms  arose  out  of  the  gradual 
transformation  in  time  of  the  more  imperfect  forms. 

"  2.  The  same  power  which  produced  the  first  organic 
forms  has  continued  to  operate  in  intensively  as  well  as  ex- 
tensively increasing  activity  during  the  whole  subsequent 
geological  period,  up  to  the  final  appearance  of  man ;  but 
here  also  can  no  traces  be  found  of  a  gradual  transformation 
of  old  species  and  genera  into  newj  but  the  new  have  every- 


340  TJie  Origin  of  the  World, 

where  appeared  as  new  without  the  co-operation  of  the  for- 
mer. 

"3.  In  the  succession  of  the  different  forms  of  plants  and 
animals,  a  certain  regular  course  and  plan  is  perceptible, 
which  is  quite  independent  of  chance.  While  all  species 
possess  only  a  limited  duration,  and  must  sooner  or  later  dis- 
appear, they  make  way  for  subsequent  new  ones,  which  not 
only  almost  always  offer  an  equivalent,  in  number,  organiza- 
tion, and  duties  to  be  performed,  for  those  which  have  disap- 
peared, but  which  are  also  generally  more  varied,  and  there- 
fore more  perfect,  and  always  maintain  an  equilibrium  with 
each  other  in  their  stage  of  organization,  their  mode  of  life, 
and  functions.  There  alwa3^s  exists,  therefore,  a  certain  fixed 
relation  between  the  newly  arising  and  the  disap^Dearing  forms 
of  organic  life. 

"4. -A  similar  relation  necessarily  exists  between  the  new- 
ly arising  organic  forms  and  the  outward  conditions  of  life 
which  prevailed  at  their  first  appearance  on  the  earth's  sur- 
face, or  at  the  place  of  their  appearance. 

"  5.  A  fixed  plan  appears  to  be  the  basis  of  the  whole 
series  of  development  of  organic  forms,  in  so  far  as  man 
makes  his  first  appearance  at  its  close,  when  he  finds  every 
thing  prepared  that  is  necessary  to  his  own  existence  and  to 
his  progressive  development  and  improvement — which  would 
not  have  been  possible  had  he  appeared  at  a  former  period. 

"6.  Such  a  regular  progress  in  carrying  out  the  same  plan 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  a  period  of  millions  of  years 
can  only  be  accounted  for  in  one  of  two  ways.  Either  this 
course  of  successive  development  during  millions  of  years  has 
been  the  regular  immediate  result  of  the  systematic  action  of 
a  conscious  Creator,  who  on  every  occasion  settled  and  car- 
ried out  not  only  the  order  of  appearance,  formation,  organi- 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  341 

zation,  and  terrestrial  object  of  each  of  the  countless  numbers 
of  species  of  plants  and  animals,  but  also  the  number  of  the 
first  individuals,  the  place  of  their  settlement  in  every  in- 
stance, although  it  was  in  his  power  to  create  every  thing  at 
once — or  there  existed  some  natural  power  hitherto  entirely 
unknown  to  us,  which  by  means  of  its  own  laws  formed  the 
species  of  plants  and  animals,  and  arranged  and  regulated 
all  those  countless  individual  conditions ;  which  power,  how- 
ever, must  in  this  case  have  stood  in  the  most  immediate  con- 
nection with,  and  in  perfect  subordination  to,  those  powers 
which  caused  the  gradually  progressing  perfection  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth,  and  the  gradual  development  of  the  out- 
ward conditions  of  life  for  the  constantly  increasing  numbers 
and  higher  classes  of  organic  forms  in  consequence  of  this 
perfection.  Only  in  this  way  can  we  explain  how  the  devel- 
opment of  the  organic  world  could  have  regularly  kept  pace 
with  that  of  the  inorganic.  Such  a  power,  although  we  know 
it  not,  would  not  only  be  in  perfect  accordance  with  all  the 
other  functions  of  nature,  but  the  Creator,  who  regulated  the 
development  of  organic  nature  by  means  of  such  a  force  so 
implanted  in  it,  as  he  guides  that  of  the  inorganic  world  by 
the  mere  co-operation  of  attraction  and  affinity,  must  appear 
to  us  more  exalted  and  imposing  than  if  we  assumed  that  he 
must  always  be  giving  the  same  care  to  the  introduction  and 
cha^nge  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  world  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  as  a  gardener  daily  bestows  on  each  individual 
plant  in  the  arrangement  of  his  garden. 

"  7.  We  therefore  believe  that  all  species  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals were  originally  produced  by  some  natural  power  un- 
known to  us,  and  not  by  transformation  from  a  few  original 
forms,  and  that  that  power  was  in  the  closest  and  most  nec- 
essary connection  with  those  powers  and  circumstances  which 
effected  the  perfection  of  the  earth's  surface." 


342  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

Barrande  also,  probably  the  greatest  living  palaeontologist 
of  Europe,  adheres  substantially  to  these  views  ;  as  Agassiz 
did,  and  I  believe  Hall  and  Dana  still  do,  in  America. 

I  have,  for  my  own  part,  seen  no  reason  to  dissent  from 
these  views,  though  in  the  sequel  I  shall  endeavor  to  present 
some  considerations  which  may  tend  to  reconcile  with  them 
some  of  the  hypotheses  of  a  contrary  nature  now  held.  It 
must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  majority  of  geologists 
and  biologists  have  abandoned  these  views  of  Pictet  and 
Bronn,  and  have  gone  over  to  the  evolutionist  philosoph}^, 
with  how  little  reason  I  have  endeavored  to  show  elsewhere,* 
and  shall  farther  illustrate  in  the  Appendix.  Let  it  be  ob- 
served, however,  that  even  evolution  does  not  affect  the  grand 
idea  of  the  unity  of  nature,  or  the  fact  that  the  plan  of  the 
Creator  in  the  organic  world  was  so  vast  that  it  required  the 
whole  duration  of  our  planet,  in  all  its  stages  of  physical  ex- 
istence, to  embrace  the  whole.  There  is  but  one  system  of 
organic  nature ;  but,  to  exhibit  the  whole  of  it,  not  only  all 
the  climates  and  conditions  now  existing  are  required,  but 
those  also  of  all  past  geological  periods.  Further,  the  prog- 
ress of  nature  being  mainly  in  the  direction  of  differentia- 
tion of  functions  once  combined,  it  has  a  limit  backward  in 
the  most  general  forms  and  conditions,  and  forward  in  the 
most  specialized.  This  is  the  history  of  the  individual  and 
probably  also  of  the  type,  of  the  world  itself  and  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  for  this  reason  material  nature  necessarily  lacks 
the  eternity  of  its  author. 

It  appears,  from  the  above  facts  and  reasonings,  that  geol- 
ogy informs  us — i.  That  the  materials  of  our  existing  conti- 
nents are  of  secondary  origin,  as  distinguished  from  primitive 

*  "  Story  of  the  Earth" — concluding  chapters. 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  343 

or  coeval  with  the  beguining.  2.  That  a  chronological  order 
of  formation  of  these  rocks  can  be  made  out.  3.  That  the 
fossil  remains  contained  in  the  rocks  constitute  a  chronology 
of  animal  and  vegetable  existence.  4.  That  the  history  of 
the  earth  may  be  divided  in  this  way  into  distinct  periods, 
all  pre-Adamite.  5.  That  the  pre-Adamite  periods  were  of 
enormous  duration.  6.  That  during  these  periods  the  exist- 
ing general  laws  of  nature  were  in  force,  though  the  disposi- 
tions of  inorganic  nature  were  different  in  different  periods, 
and  the  animals  and  plants  of  successive  periods  were  also 
different  from  each  other.  7.  The  introduction  of  new  species 
of  animals  and  of  plants,  while  indicating  advance  in  the  per- 
fection of  nature,  does  not  prove  spontaneous  development, 
but  rather  a  definite  plan  and  law  of  creation. 

The  parallelism  of  these  conclusions  of  careful  induct- 
ive inquiry  into  the  structure  of  the  earth's  crust,  with  the 
results  which  we  have  already  obtained  from  revelation,  may 
be  summed  up  under  the  following  heads : 

I.  Scripture  and  Science  both  testify  to  the  great  fact  that 
there  was  a  beginning — a  time  when  none  of  all  the  parts  of 
the  fabric  of  the  universe  existed ;  when  the  Self- Existent 
was  the  sole  occupant  of  space.  The  Scriptures  announce 
in  plain  terms  this  great  truth,  and  thereby  rise  at  once  high 
above  atheism,  pantheism,  and  materialism,  and  lay  a  broad 
and  sure  foundation  for  a  pure  and  spiritual  theology.  Had 
the  pen  of  inspiration  written  but  the  words,  "  In  the  begin- 
ning God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  and  added  no 
more,  these  words  alone  would  have  borne  the  impress  of 
their  heavenly  birth,  and  would,  if  received  in  faith,  have 
done  much  for  the  progress  of  the  human  mind.  These 
words  contain  a  negation  of  hero-worship,  star- worship,  ani- 
mal-worship, and  every  other  form  of  idolatry.     They  still 


344  ^^^^  Origin  of  the  World, 

more  emphatically  deny  atheism  and  materialism,  and  point 
upward  from  nature  to  its  spiritual  Creator — the  One,  the 
Triune,  the  Eternal,  the  Self-Existent,  the  All-Pervading,  the 
Almighty.  They  call  upon  us,  as  with  a  voice  of  thunder,  to 
bow  down  before  that  Awful  Being  of  whom  it  can  be  said 
that  he  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  They  thus  em- 
body the  whole  essence  of  natural  theology,  and  most  appro- 
priately stand  at  the  entrance  of  Holy  Scripture,  referring  us 
to  the  works  which  men  behold,  as  the  visible  manifestation 
of  the  attributes  of  the  Being  whose  spiritual  nature  is  un- 
veiled in  revelation.  Scripture  thus  begins  with  the  an- 
nouncement of  a  great  ultimate  fact,  to  which  science  con- 
ducts us  with  but  slow  and  timid  steps.  Yet  science,  and 
especially  geological  science,  can  bear  witness  to  this  great 
truth.  The  materialist,  reasoning  on  the  fancied  stability  of 
natural  things,  and  their  inscription  within  invariable  laws, 
concludes  that  matter  must  be  eternal.  No,  replies  the  ge- 
ologist, certainly  not  in  its  present  form.  This  is  but  of 
recent  origin,  and  was  preceded  by  other  arrangements. 
Every  existing  species  can  be  traced  back  to  a  time  when  it 
was  not ;  so  can  the  existing  continents,  mountains,  and  seas. 
Under  our  processes  of  investigation  the  present  melts  away 
like  a  dream,  and  we  are  landed  on  the  shores  of  past  and 
unknown  worlds.  But  I  read,  says  the  objector,  that  you  can 
see  "no  evidence  of  a  beginning,  no  prospect  of  an  end." 
It  is  true,  answers  geology  \  but,  in  so  saying,  it  is  not  in- 
tended that  the  present  state  of  things  had  not  an  ascer- 
tained beginning,  but  that  there  has  been  a  great  and,  so  far 
as  we  know,  unlimited  series  of  changes  carried  on  under  the 
guidance  of  intelligence.  These  changes  we  have  traced 
back  very  far,  without  being  able  to  say  that  we  have  reached 
the  first.     We  can  trace  back  man  and  his  contemporaries  to 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  345 

their  origin,  and  we  can  reach  the  points  at  which  still  older 
dynamics  of  life  began  to  exist.  Knowing,  then,  that  all 
these  had  a  beginning,  we  infer  that  if  others  preceded  them 
they  also  had  a  beginning.  But,  says  another  objector,  is  not 
the  present  the  child  of  the  past  ?  Are  not  all  the  creatures 
that  inhabit  the  earth  the  lineal  descendants  of  creatures  of 
past  periods,  or  may  not  the  whole  be  parts  of  one  continual 
succession,  under  the  operation  of  an  eternal  law  of  develop- 
ment ?  No,  answers  geology,  species  are  immutable,  except 
within  narrow  limits,  and  do  not  pass  into  each  other,  in  trac- 
ing them  toward  their  origin.  On  the  contrary,  they  appear 
at  once  in  their  most  perfect  state,  and  continue  unchanged 
till  they  are  forced  off  the  stage  of  existence  to  give  place  to 
other  creatures.  The  origin  of  species  is  a  mystery,  and  be- 
longs to  no  natural  law  that  has  yet  been  established.  Thus, 
then,  stands  the  case  at  present.  Scripture  asserts  a  begin- 
ning and  a  creation.  Science  admits  these,  as  far  as  the  ob- 
jects with  which  it  is  conversant  extend,  and  the  notions  of 
eternal  succession  and  spontaneous  development,  discounte- 
nanced both  by  theology  and  science,  are  obliged  to  take 
refuge  in  those  misty  regions  where  modern  philosophical 
skepticism  consorts  with  the  shades  of  departed  heathen- 
ism.* 

2.  Both  records  exhibit  the  progressive  character  of  crea- 
tion, and  in  much  the  same  aspect.  The  Almighty  might 
have  called  into  existence,  by  one  single  momentary  act,  a 
world  complete  in  all  its  parts.  From  both  Scripture  and 
geology  we  know  that  he  has  not  done  so— why  we  need  not 


*  This  was  written  in  iS6o  for  the  first  edition  of  *' Archaia."  I  see  no 
reason  to  change  it  now,  and  its  vindication  will  be  found  in  the  Appen- 
dix. 

P  2 


346  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

inquire,  though  we  can  see  that  the  process  employed  was 
that  best  adapted  to  show  forth  the  variety  of  his  resources 
and  the  infinitely  varied  elements  that  enter  into  the  perfect 
whole. 

The  Scripture  history  may  be  viewed  as  dividing  the  prog- 
ress of  the  creation  into  two  great  periods,  the  later  of  which 
only  is  embraced  in  the  geological  record.  The  first  com- 
mences with  the  original  chaos,  and  reaches  to  the  comple- 
tion of  inorganic  nature  on  the  fourth  day.  Had  we  any 
geological  records  of  the  first  of  these  periods,  we  should 
perceive  the  evidences  of  slow  mutations,  tending  to  the  sort- 
ing and  arrangement  of  the  materials  of  the  earth,  and  to 
produce  distinct  light  and  darkness,  sea  and  land,  atmos- 
phere and  cloud,  out  of  what  was  originally  a  mixture  of  the 
whole.  We  should  also,  according  to  the  Scriptural  record, 
find  this  period  interlocking  with  the  next,  by  the  interven- 
tion of  a  great  vegetable  creation,  before  the  final  adjustment 
of  the  earth's  relations  to  the  other  bodies  of  our  system. 
The  second  period  is  that  of  the  creative  development  of 
animal  life.  From  both  records  we  learn  that  various  ranks 
or  gradations  existed  from  the  first  introduction  of  animals; 
but  that  on  the  earlier  stages  only  certain  of  the  lower  forms 
of  animals  were  present ;  that  these  soon  attained  their 
highest  point,  and  then  gradually,  on  each  succeeding  plat- 
form, the  variety  of  nature  in  its  higher — the  vertebrate — 
form  increased,  and  the  upper  margin  of  animal  life  attained 
a  more  and  more  elevated  point,  culminating  at  length  in 
man ;  while  certain  of  the  older  forms  were  dropped,  as  no 
longer  required. 

In  the  oldest  fossiliferous  rocks  next  to  the  Eozoic,  which 
so  far  have  afforded  only  Protozoa — e.  g.,  the  Cambrian  and 
Lower  Silurian — we  find  the  moUusca  represented  mainly  by 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  347 

their  highest  and  lowest  classes,  by  allies  of  the  cuttle-fish 
and  nautilus,  and  by  the  lowest  bivalve  shell -fishes.  The 
Articulata  are  represented  by  the  highest  marine  class — the 
crustaceans — and  by  the  lowest — the  worms,  which  have  left 
their  marks  on  some  of  the  lowest  fossiliferous  beds.  The 
Radiata,  in  like  manner,  are  represented  by  species  of  their 
highest  class — the  star-fishes,  etc. — and  by  some  of  their  sim- 
pler polyp  forms.  At  the  very  beginning,  then,  of  the  fossil- 
iferous series,  the  three  lower  sub-kingdoms  exhibit  species 
of  their  most  elevated  aquatic  classes,  though  not  of  the  very 
highest  orders  in  those  classes.  The  vertebrated  sub-king- 
dom has,  as  far  as  yet  known,  no  representative  in  these  low- 
est beds.  In  the  Upper  Silurian  series,  however,  we  find  re- 
mains of  fishes  j  and  in  the  succeeding  Devonian  and  car- 
boniferous rocks  the  fishes  rise  to  the  highest  structures  of 
their  class ;  and  we  find  several  species  of  reptiles,  repre- 
senting the  next  of  the  vertebrated  classes  in  ascending  or- 
der. Here  a  very  remarkable  fact  meets  us.  Before  the 
close  of  the  Palaeozoic  period  the  three  lower  sub-kingdoms 
and  the  fishes  had  already  attained  the  highest  perfection  of 
which  their  types  are  capable.  Multitudes  of  new  species  and 
genera  were  added  subsequently,  but  none  of  them  rising  high- 
er in  the  scale  of  organization  than  those  which  occur  in  the 
Palaeozoic  rocks.  Thenceforth  the  progressive  improvement 
of  the  animal  kingdom  consisted  in  the  addition,  first  of  the 
reptile,  which  attained  its  highest  perfection  and  importance 
in  the  Mesozoic  period,  and  then  of  the  bird  and  mammal, 
which  did  not  attain  their  highest  forms  till  the  Modern  pe- 
riod. This  geological  order  of  animal  life,  it  is  scarcely  nec- 
essary to  add,  agrees  perfectly  with  that  sketched  by  Moses, 
in  which  the  lower  types  are  completed  at  once,  and  the  prog- 
ress is  wholly  in  the  higher. 


348  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

In  the  inspired  narrative  we  have  already  noticed  some 
peculiarities,  as,  for  instance,  the  early  appearance  of  a  highly 
developed  flora,  and  the  sjDecial  mention  of  great  reptiles  in 
the  work  of  the  fifth  day,  which  correspond  with  the  signif- 
icant fact  that  high  types  of  structure  appeared  at  the  very 
introduction  of  each  new  group  of  organized  beings — a  fact 
which,  more  than  any  other  in  geology,  shows  that,  in  the  or- 
ganic department,  elevation  has  always  been  a  strictly  creative 
work,  and  that  there  is  in  the  constitution  of  animal  species 
no  innate  tendency  to  elevation,  but  that  on  the  contrary  we 
should  rather  suspect  a  tendency  to  degeneracy  and  ultimate 
disappearance,  requiring  that  the  fiat  of  the  Creator  should 
after  a  time  go  out  again  to  "  renew  the  face  of  the  earth." 
In  the  natural  as  in  the  moral  world,  the  only  law  of  prog- 
ress is  the  will  and  the  power  of  God.  In  one  sense,  how- 
ever, progress  in  the  organic  world  has  been  dependent  on, 
though  not  caused  by,  progress  in  the  inorganic.  We  see  in 
geology  many  grounds  for  believing  that  each  new  tribe  of 
animals  or  plants  was  introduced  just  as  the  earth  became 
fitted  for  it ;  and  even  in  the  present  world  we  see  that  re- 
gions composed  of  the  more  ancient  rocks,  and  not  modified 
by  subsequent  disturbances,  present  few  of  the  means  of  sup- 
port for  man  and  the  higher  animals  ;  while  those  districts  in 
which  various  revolutions  of  the  earth  have  accumulated  fer- 
tile soils  or  deposited  useful  minerals  are  the  chief  seats  of 
civilization  and  population.  In  like  manner  we  know  that 
those  regions  which  the  Bible  informs  us  were  the  cradle  of 
the  human  race  and  the  seats  of  the  oldest  nations  are  geo- 
logically among  the  most  recent  parts  of  the  existing  conti- 
nents, and  were  no  doubt  selected  by  the  Creator  partly  on 
that  account  for  the  birthplace  of  man.  We  thus  find  that 
the  Bible  and  the  geologists  are  agreed  not  only  as  to  the 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions,  349 

fact  and  order  of  progress,  but  also  as  to  its  manner  and 
use. 

3.  Both  records  agree  in  affirming  tliat  since  the  beginning 
there  has  been  but  one  great  system  of  nature.  We  can  im- 
agine it  to  have  been  otherwise.  Our  existing  nature  might 
have  been  preceded  by  a  state  of  things  having  no  Connection 
with  it.  The  arrangements  of  the  earth's  surface  might  have 
been  altogether  different ;  races  of  creatures  might  have  ex- 
isted having  no  affinity  with  or  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
present  w'orld,  and  we  might  have  been  able  to  trace  no  pres- 
ent beneficial  consequences  as  flowing  from  these  past  states 
of  our  planet.  Had  geology  made  such  revelations  as  these, 
the  consequences  in  relation  to  natural  theology  and  the  cred- 
ibility of  Scripture  would  have  been  momentous.  The  Mosaic 
narrative  could  scarcely,  in  that  case,  have  been  interpreted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  accord  with  geological  conclusions. 
The  questions  would  have  arisen — Are  there  more  creative 
Powers  than  one  ?  If  one,  is  He  an  imperfect  or  capricious 
being  who  changes  his  plans  of  operation?  The  divine  au- 
thority of  the  Scriptures,  as  well  as  the  unity  and  perfections 
of  God,  might  thus  have  been  involved  in  serious  doubts. 
Happily  for  us,  there  is  nothing  of  this  kind  in  the  geological 
history  of  the  earth ;  as  there  is  manifestly  nothing  of  it  in 
that  which  is  revealed  in  Scripture. 

In  the  Scripture  narrative  each  act  of  creation  prepares 
for  the  others,  and  in  its  consequences  extends  to  them  all. 
The  inspired  writer  announces  the  introduction  of  each  new 
part  of  creation,  and  then  leaves  it  without  any  reference  to 
the  various  phases  which  it  assumed  as  the  work  advanced. 
In  the  ^rand  general  view  which  he  takes,  the  land  and  seas 
first  made  represent  those  of  all  the  following  periods.  So 
do  the  first  plants,  the  first  invertebrate  animals,  the  first 


3 so  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals.  He  thus  assures  us  that, 
however  long  the  periods  represented  by  days  of  creation, 
the  system  of  nature  was  one  from  the  beginning.  In  like 
manner  in  the  geological  record  each  of  the  successive  con- 
ditions of  the  earth  is  related  to  those  which  precede  and 
those  which  follow,  as  part  of  a  series.  So  also  a  uniform 
plan  of  construction  pervades  organic  nature,  and  uniform 
laws  the  inorganic  world  in  all  periods.  We  can  thus  include 
in  one  system  of  natural  history  all  animals  and  plants,  fossil 
as  well  as  recent,  and  can  resolve  all  inorganic  changes  into 
the  operation  of  existing  laws.  The  former  of  these  facts  is 
in  its  nature  so  remarkable  as  almost  to  warrant  the  belief 
of  special  design.  Naturalists  had  arranged  the  existing 
animals  and  plants,  without  any  reference  to  fossil  species, 
in  kingdoms,  sub -kingdoms,  classes,  orders,  families,  and 
genera.  Geological  research  has  added  a  vast  number  of 
species  not  now  existing  in  a  living  state;  yet  all  these  fos- 
sils can  be  inserted  within  the  limits  of  recognized  groups. 
We  do  not  require  to  add  a  new  kingdom,  sub-kingdom,  or 
class;  but,  on  the  contrar}^,  all  the  fossil  genera  and  species 
go  into  the  existing  divisions,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  fill 
them  up  precisely  where  they  are  most  deficient,  thus  oc- 
cupying what  would  otherwise  be  gaps  in  the  existing  sys- 
tem of  nature.  The  principal  difficulty  which  they  occasion 
to  the  zoologist  and  botanist  is  that,  by  filling  the  intervals 
between  genera  previously  widely  separated,  they  give  to  the 
whole  a  degree  of  continuity  which  renders  it  more  difficult 
to  decide  where  the  boundaries  separating  the  groups  should 
be  placed. 

We  also  find  that  the  animals  and  plants  of  the  earlier 
periods  often  combined  in  one  form  powers  and  properties 
afterward  separated  in  distinct  groups;  thus  in  the  earlier 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions,  351 

formations  the  sauroid  fishes  unite  peculiarities  afterward  di- 
vided between  the  fish  and  reptiles,  constituting  what  Agassiz 
has  called  a  synthetic  type.  Again,  the  series  of  creatures  in 
time  accords  with  the  ranks  which  a  study  of  their  types  of 
structure  induces  the  naturalist  to  assign  them  in  his  system; 
and  also  within  each  of  the  great  sub -kingdoms  presents 
many  points  of  accordance  with  the  progress  of  the  embry- 
onic development  of  the  individual  animal.  Nor  is  this  con- 
tradictory to  the  statement  that  the  earlier  representatives  of 
types  are  often  of  high  and  perfect  organization,  for  the  prog- 
ress both  in  geological  time  and  in  the  life  of  the  individual 
is  so  much  one  of  specialization  that  an  immature  animal 
often  presents  points  of  affinity  to  higher  forms  that  disappear 
in  the  adult.  In  connection  with  tliis,  earlier  organic  forms 
often  appear  to  foreshadow  and  predict  others  that  are  to 
succeed  them  in  time,  as  the  winged  and  marine  reptiles  of 
the  Mesozoic  foreshadow  the  birds  and  cetaceans.  Agassiz 
has  admirably  illustrated  these  links  of  connection  between 
the  past  and  the  present  in  the  essay  on  classification  pre- 
fixed to  his  "  Contributions  to  the  Natural  History  of  Amer- 
ica." In  reference  to  "prophetic"  types,  he  says:  "They 
appear  now  like  a  prophecy  in  those  earlier  times  of  an  order 
of  things  not  possible  with  the  earlier  combinations  then  pre- 
vailing in  the  animal  kingdom,  but  exhibiting  in  a  later  pe- 
riod in  a  striking  manner  the  antecedent  consideration  of 
every  step  in  the  gradation  of  animals." 

4.  The  periods  into  which  geology  divides  the  history  of 
the  earth  are  different  from  those  of  Scripture,  yet  when  prop- 
erly understood  there  is  a  marked  correspondence.  Geology 
refers  only  to  the  fifth  and  sixth  days  of  creation,  or,  at  most, 
to  these  with  parts  of  the  fourth  and  seventh,  and  it  divides 
this  portion  of  the  work  into  several  eras,  founded  on  alter- 


352  TJie  Origin  of  the  World. 

nations  of  rock  formations  and  changes  in  organic  remains. 
The  nature  of  geological  evidence  renders  it  probable  that 
many  apparently  well-marked  breaks  in  the  chain  may  result 
merely  from  deficiency  in  the  preserved  remains;  and  conse- 
quently that  what  appear  to  the  geologist  to  be  very  distinct 
periods  may  in  reality  run  together.  The  only  natural  di- 
visions that  Scripture  teaches  us  to  look  for  are  those  be- 
tween the  fifth  and  sixth  days,  and  those  which  within  these 
days  mark  the  introduction  of  new  animal  forms,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  great  reptiles  of  the  fifth  day.  We  have  already 
seen  that  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  day  can  be  referred  almost 
with  certainty  to  the  Palaeozoic  period.  The  beginning  of  the 
sixth  day  may  with  nearly  equal  certainty  be  referred  to  that 
of  the  Tertiary  era.  The  introduction  of  great  reptiles  and 
birds  in  the  fifth  day  synchronizes  and  corresponds  with  the 
beginning  of  the  Mesozoic  period ;  and  that  of  man  at  the 
close  of  the  sixth  day  with  the  commencement  of  the  Modern 
era  in  geology.  These  four  great  coincidences  are  so  much 
more  than  we  could  have  expected,  in  records  so  very  different 
in  their  nature  and  origin,  that  we  need  not  pause  to  search 
for  others  of  a  more  obscure  character.  It  may  be  w^ell  to 
introduce  here  a  tabular  view  of  this  correspondence  between 
the  geological  and  Biblical  periods,  extending  it  as  far  as 
either  record  can  carry  us,  and  thus  giving  a  complete  general 
view  of  the  origin  and  history  of  the  world  as  deduced  from 
revelation  and  science.  In  comparing  this  table  with  that  on 
page  330,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  latter  refers  to  the  last 
half  of  the  creative  week  only,  the  earlier  half  being  occupied 
with  physical  changes  which,  however  probable  inferentiallv, 
are  not  within  the  scope  of  geological  observation. 

5.  In  both  records  the  ocean  gives  birth  to  the  first  dry 
land,  and  it  is  the  sea  that  is  first  inhabited,  yet  both  lead  at 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions. 


353 


PARALLELISM    OF   THE    SCRIPTURAL   COSMOGONY  WITH  THE  AS- 
TRONOMICAL  AND   GEOLOGICAL    HISTORY   OF    THE    EARTH. 


BIBLICAL  ^ONS. 


The  Beginning. 


First  Day. — Earth  mantled  by  the 
Vaporous  Deep — Production  of 
Light. 

Second  Day. — Earth  covered  by  the 
Waters  —  Formation  of  the  At- 
mosphere. 

Third  Day.  —  Emergence  of  Dry 
Land  —  Introduction  of  Vegeta- 
tion. 

Fcnirth  Day.  —  Completion  of  the 
arrangements  of  the  Solar  Sys- 
tem. 


Fifth  Day. — Invertebrates  and  Fish- 
es, and  afterward  great  Reptiles 
and  Birds  created. 


Sixth  Day. — Introduction  of  Mam- 
mals— Creation  of  Man  and  Eden- 
ic  Group  of  Animals. 


Seventh  Day. — Cessation  of  Work 
of  Creation — Fall  and  Refdemp- 
tion  of  Man. 

Eighth  Day. — New  Heavens  and 
Earth  to  succeed  the  Human 
Epoch  — "The  Rest  (Sabbath) 
that  remains  to  the  People  of 
God."* 


PERIODS   DEDUCED   FROM   SCIENTIFIC 
CONSIDERATIONS. 


Creation  of  Matter. 

Condensation  of  Planetary  Bodies 
from  a  nebulous  mass — Hypothe- 
sis of  original  incandescence. 

Primitive  Universal  Ocean,  and  es- 
tablishment of  Atmospheric  equi- 
librium. 

Elevation  of  the  land  which  furnished 
the  materials  of  the  oldest  rocks 
— Eozoic  Period  of  Geology  ? 

Metamorphism  of  Eozoic  rocks  and 
disturbances  preceding  the  Cam- 
brian epoch  —  Present  arrange- 
ment of  Seasons — Dominion  of 
"Existing  Causes"  begins. 

Palaeozoic  Period — Reign  of  Inver- 
tebrates and  Fishes. 

Mesozoic  Period — Reign  of  Rep- 
tiles. 

Tertiary  Period — Reign  of  Mam- 
mals. 

Post  -  Tertiary — Existing  Mammals 
and  Man. 

Period  of  Human  History. 


*  Heb.  iv.,  9  ;  2  Peter  iii.,  13. 

7V7-^/^._The  above  table  is  identical  with  that  published  in  "  Archaia  " 
in  i860,  and  which  the  author  sees  no  reason  now  to  change. 


354  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

least  to  the  suspicion  that  a  state  of  igneous  fluidity  preceded 
the  primitive  universal  ocean.  In  Scripture  the  original 
prevalence  of  the  ocean  is  distinctly  stated,  and  all  geologists 
are  agreed  that  in  the  early  fossiliferous  periods  the  sea 
must  have  prevailed  much  more  extensively  than  at  present. 
Scripture  also  expressly  states  that  the  waters  were  the  birth- 
place of  the  earliest  animals,  and  geology  has  as  yet  discov- 
ered in  the  whole  Silurian  series  no  terrestrial  animal,  though 
marine  creatures  are  extremely  abundant ;  and  though  air- 
breathing  creatures  are  found  in  the  later  Palaeozoic,  they  are, 
with  the  exception  of  insects,  of  that  semi-amphibious  charac- 
ter which  is  proper  to  alluvial  flats  and  the  deltas  of  rivers. 
It  is  true  that  the  negative  evidence  collected  by  geology 
does  not  render  it  altogether  impossible  that  terrestrial  ani- 
mals, even  mammals,  may  have  existed  in  the  earliest  pe- 
riods ;  yet  there  are,  as  already  pointed  out,  some  positive 
indications  opposed  to  this.  The  Scripture,  however,  com- 
mits itself  to  the  statement  that  the  higher  land  animals  did 
not  exist  so  early,  though  it  must  be  observed  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  Mosaic  narrative  adverse  to  the  existence  of 
birds,  insects,  and  reptiles  in  the  earlier  Palaeozoic  periods. 
I  have  said  that  the  Bible,  which  informs  us  of  a  universal 
ocean  preceding  the  existence  of  land,  also  gives  indications  of 
a  still  earlier  period  of  igneous  fluidity  or  gaseous  expansion. 
Geology  also  and  astronomy  have  their  reasonings  and  spec- 
ulations as  to  the  prevalence  of  such  conditions.  Here,  how- 
ever, both  records  become  dim  and  obscure,  though  it  is  ev- 
ident that  both  point  in  the  same  direction,  and  combine 
those  aqueous  and  igneous  origins  which  in  the  last  century 
afforded  so  fertile  ground  of  one-sided  dispute. 

6.  Both  records  concur  in  maintaining  what  is  usually  term- 
ed the  doctrine  of  existing  causes  in  geology.     Scripture  and 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  355 

geology  alike  show  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  day, 
or  Palaeozoic  period,  the  inorganic  world  has  continued  un- 
der the  dominion  of  the  same  causes  that  now  regulate  its 
changes  and  processes.  The  sacred  narrative  gives  no  hint 
of  any  creative  interposition  in  this  department  after  the 
fourth  day ;  and  geology  assures  us  that  all  the  rocks  with 
which  it  is  acquainted  have  been  produced  by  the  same 
causes  that  are  now  throwing  down  detritus  in  the  bottom  of 
the  waters,  or  bringing  up  volcanic  products  from  the  interior 
of  the  earth.  This  grand  generalization,  therefore,  first  work- 
ed out  in  modern  times  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  from  a  laborious 
collection  of  the  changes  occurring  in  the  present  state  of  the 
world,  was,  as  a  doctrine  of  divine  revelation,  announced 
more  than  three  thousand  years  ago  by  the  Hebrew  law- 
giver ;  not  for  scientific  purposes,  but  as  a  part  of  the  theol- 
ogy of  the  Hebrew  monotheism. 

7.  Both  records  agree  in  assuring  us  that  death  prevailed 
in  the  world  ever  since  animals  were  introduced.  The  pun- 
ishment threatened  to  Adam,  and  considerations  connected 
with  man's  state  of  innocence,  have  led  to  the  belief  that  the 
Bible  teaches  that  the  lower  animals,  as  well  as  man,  were  ex- 
empt from  death  before  the  fall.  When,  however,  we  find 
the  great  tannitwn,  or  crocodilian  reptiles,  created  in  the  fifth 
day,  and  beasts  of  prey  on  the  sixth,  we  need  entertain  no 
doubt  on  the  subject,  in  so  far  as  Scripture  is  concerned. 
The  geological  record  is  equally  explicit.  Carnivorous  creat- 
ures, with  the  most  formidable  powers  of  destruction,  have 
left  their  remains  in  all  parts  of  the  geological  series;  and 
indeed,  up  to  the  introduction  of  man,  the  carnivorous  fishes, 
reptiles,  and  quadrupeds  were  the  lords  and  tyrants  of  the 
earth.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  man  was  the  beginning  of  a  change  in  this  respect. 


35^  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

A  creature  destitute  of  offensive  weapons,  and  subsisting  on 
fruits,  was  to  rule  by  the  power  of  intellect.  As  already  hint- 
ed, it  is  probable  that  in  Eden  he  was  surrounded  by  a  group 
of  inoffensive  animals,  and  that  those  creatures  which  he  had 
cause  to  dread  would  have  disappeared  as  he  extended  his 
dominion.  In  this  way  the  law  of  violent  death  and  destruc- 
tion which  prevailed  under  the  dynasties  of  the  fish,  the  rep- 
tile, and  the  carnivorous  mammifer  would  ultimately  have  been 
abrogated ;  and  under  the  milder  sway  of  man  life  and  peace 
would  have  reigned  in  a  manner  to  which  our  knowledge  of 
pre-Adamite  and  present  nature  may  afford  no  adequate  key. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  on  the  important  point  of  the  original  prev- 
alence of  death  among  the  lower  animals  both  records  are  at 
one. 

8.  In  the  department  of  "final  causes,"  as  they  have  been 
termed.  Scripture  and  geology  unite  in  affording  large  and 
interesting  views.  They  illustrate  the  procedure  of  the  All- 
wise  Creator  during  a  long  succession  of  ages,  and  thus  en- 
able us  to  see  the  effects  of  any  of  his  laws,  not  only  at  one 
time,  but  in  far  distant  periods.  To  reject  the  consideration 
of  this  peculiarity  of  geological  science  would  be  the  extrem- 
est  folly,  and  would  involve  at  once  a  misinterpretation  of  the 
geologic  record  and  a  denial  of  the  agency  of  an  intelligent 
Designer  as  revealed  in  Scripture,  and  indicated  by  the  suc- 
cession of  beings.  Many  of  the  past  changes  of  the  earth 
acquire  their  full  significance  only  when  taken  in  connection 
with  the  present  wants  of  the  earth's  inhabitants;  and  along 
the  whole  course  of  the  geological  history  the  creatures  that 
we  meet  with  are  equally  rich  in  the  evidences  of  nice  adap- 
tation to  circumstances  and  wonderful  contrivances  for  spe- 
cial ends,  with  their  modern  representatives.  As  an  example 
of  the  former,  how  wonderful  is  the  connection  of  the  great 


Comparisons  and  Conclusio7is.  357 

vegetable  accumulations  of  the  ancient  coal  swamps,  and  the 
bands  and  nodules  of  iron-stone  which  were  separated  from 
the  ferruginous  sands  or  clays  in  their  vicinity  by  the  action 
of  this  very  vegetable  matter,  with  the  whole  fabric  of  mod- 
ern civilization,  and  especially  with  the  prosperity  of  that 
race  which,  in  our  time,  stands  in  the  front  of  the  world's 
progress.  In  a  very  ancient  period,  wide  swamps  and  deltas, 
teeming  with  vegetable  life,  and  which,  if  they  now  existed, 
would  be  but  pestilent  breeders  of  miasmata,  spread  over 
large  tracts  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  on  which  marine 
animals  had  previously  accumulated  thick  sheets  of  lime- 
stone. Vast  beds  of  vegetable  matter  were  collected  by 
growth  in  these  swamps,  and  the  waste  particles  that  passed 
off  in  the  form  of  organic  acids  were  employed  in  concentrat- 
ing the  oxide  of  iron  in  underlying  clays  and  sands.  In  the 
lapse  of  ages  the  whole  of  these  accumulations  were  buried 
deep  in  the  crust  of  the  earth ;  and  long  periods  succeeded, 
when  the  earth  was  tenanted  by  reptilian  and  other  creatures, 
unconscious  of  the  treasures  beneath  them.  The  modern 
period  arrived.  The  equable  climate  of  the  coal  era  had 
passed  away.  Continents  were  prepared  for  the  residence 
of  man,  and  the  edges  of  the  old  carboniferous  beds  were 
exposed  by  subterranean  movements,  and  laid  bare  by  de- 
nudation. Man  was  introduced,  fell  from  his  state  of  inno- 
cence, and  was  condemned  to  earn  his  subsistence  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow ;  and  now  for  the  first  time  appears  the 
use  of  these  buried  coal  swamps.  They  now  afford  at  once 
the  materials  of  improvement  in  the  arts  and  of  comfortable 
subsistence  in  extreme  climates,  and  subjects  of  surpassing 
interest  to  the  naturalist.  Similar  instances  may  be  gleaned 
by  the  natural  theologian  from  nearly  every  part  of  the  geo- 
logical history. 


358  The  Origin  of  the  World. 

Lastly.  Both  records  represent  man  as  the  last  of  God's 
works,  and  the  culminating-point  of  the  whole  creation.  We 
have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  this  as  a  result  of  zool- 
ogy, geology,  and  Scriptural  exegesis,  and  may  here  confine 
ourselves  to  the  moral  consequences  of  this  great  truth.  Man 
is  the  capital  of  the  column  ;  and,  if  marred  and  defaced  by 
moral  evil,  the  symmetry  of  the  whole  is  to  be  restored,  not 
by  rejecting  him  altogether,  like  the  extinct  species  of  the  an- 
cient world,  and  replacing  him  by  another,  but  by  re-casting 
him  in  the  image  of  his  Divine  Redeemer.  Man,  though  re- 
cently introduced,  is  to  exist  eternally.  He  is,  in  one  or  an- 
other state  of  being,  to  be  witness  of  all  future  changes  of  the 
earth.  He  has  before  him  the  option  of  being  one  with  his 
Maker,  and  sharing  in  a  future  glorious  and  finally  renovated 
condition  of  our  planet,  or  of  sinking  into  endless  degradation. 
Such  is  the  great  spiritual  drama  of  man's  fate  to  be  acted 
out  on  the  theatre  of  the  world.  Every  human  being  must 
play  his  part  in  it,  and  the  present  must  decide  what  that  part 
shall  be.  The  Bible  bases  these  great  foreshadowings  of  the 
future  on  its  own  peculiar  evidence  ;  yet  I  may  venture  hum- 
bly to  maintain  that  its  harmony  with  natural  science,  as  far 
as  the  latter  can  ascend,  gives  to  the  Word  of  God  a  pre-em- 
inent claim  on  the  attention  of  the  naturalist.  The  Bible,  un- 
like every  other  system  of  religious  doctrine,  fears  no  investi- 
gation or  discussion.  It  courts  these.  "  While  science,"  says 
a  modern  divine,*  ''  is  fatal  to  superstition,  it  is  fortification 
to  a  Scriptural  faith.  The  Bible  is  the  bravest  of  books. 
Coming  from  God,  and  conscious  of  nothing  but  God's  truth, 
it  awaits  the  progress  of  knowledge  with  calm  security.  It 
watches  the  antiquary  ransacking  among  classic  ruins,  and 

*  Hamilton. 


Comparisons  and  Conclusions.  359 

rejoices  in  every  medal  he  discovers  and  every  inscription  he 
deciphers ;  for  from  that  rusty  coin  or  corroded  marble  it 
expects  nothing  but  confirmations  of  its  own  veracity.  In 
the  unlocking  of  an  Egyptian  hieroglyphic  or  the  unearthing 
of  some  implement  it  hails  the  resurrection  of  so  many  wit- 
nesses ;  and  with  sparkling  elation  it  follows  the  botanist  as 
he  scales  Mount  Lebanon,  or  the  zoologist  as  he  makes  ac- 
quaintance with  the  beasts  of  the  Syrian  desert ;  or  the  trav- 
eller as  he  stumbles  on  a  long-lost  Petra  or  Nineveh  or  Baby- 
lon. And  from  the  march  of  time  it  fears  no  evil,  but  calmly 
abides  the  fulfilment  of  those  prophecies  and  the  forthcoming 
of  those  events  with  whose  predicted  story  inspiration  has 
already  inscribed  its  page.  It  is  not  light  but  darkness  which 
the  Bible  deprecates ;  and  if  men  of  piety  were  also  men  of 
science,  and  if  men  of  science  were  to  search  the  Scriptures, 
there  would  be  more  faith  in  the  earth,  and  also  more  philos- 
ophy." 

The  reader  has,  I  trust,  found  in  the  preceding  pages  suf- 
ficient evidence  that  the  Bible  has  nothing  to  dread  from  the 
revelations  of  geology,  but  much  to  hope  in  the  way  of  eluci- 
dation of  its  meaning  and  confirmation  of  its  truth.  If  con- 
vinced of  this,  I  trust  that  he  will  allow  me  now  to  ask  for 
the  warnings,  promises,  and  predictions  of  the  Book  of  God 
his  entire  confidence ;  and,  in  conclusion,  to  direct  his  atten- 
tion to  the  glorious  prospects  which  it  holds  forth  to  the  hu- 
man race,  and  to -every  individual  of  it  who,  in  humility  and 
self-renunciation,  casts  himself  in  faith  on  that  Divine  Re- 
deemer who  is  at  once  the  creator  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  and  the  brother  and  the  friend  of  the  penitent  and  the 
contrite.  That  same  old  book,  which  carries  back  our  view 
to  those  ancient  conditions  of  our  planet  which  preceded  not 
only  the  creation  of  man,  but  the  earliest  periods  of  which 


360  TJic  O right  of  the   World. 

science  has  cognizance,  likewise  carries  our  minds  forward 
into  the  farthest  depths  of  futurity,  and  shows  that  all  present 
things  must  pass  away.  It  reveals  to  us  a  new  heaven  and 
a  new  eartli,  which  are  to  replace  those  now  existing ;  when 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  the  manifestation  of  the  Father 
equally  in  creation  and  redemption,  shall  come  forth  con- 
quering and  to  conquer,  and  shall  sweep  away  into  utter  ex- 
tinction all  the  blood-stained  tyrannies  of  the  present  earth, 
even  as  he  has  swept  away  the  brute  dynasties  of  the  pre- 
Adamite  world,  and  shall  establish  a  reign  of  peace,  of  love, 
and  of  holiness  that  shall  never  pass  away  :  when  the  purified 
sons  of  Adam,  rejoicing  in  immortal  youth  and  happiness, 
shall  be  able  to  look  back  with  enlarged  understandings  and 
grateful  hearts  on  the  whole  history  of  creation  and  redemp- 
tion, and  shall  join  their  angelic  brethren  in  the  final  and 
more  ecstatic  repetition  of  that  hymn  of  praise  with  which 
the  heavenly  hosts  greeted  the  birth  of  our  planet.  ]\Iay  God 
in  his  mercy  grant  that  he  who  writes  and  they  who  read 
may  "stand  in  their  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days"  and  enjoy 
the  full  fruition  of  these  glorious  prospects. 


fRonnr  ubkary 

N.  C.  State  College 


APPENDIX. 


Q 


APPENDIX. 


A.— TRUE  AND  FALSE  EVOLUTION. 

The  term  "  evolution  "  need  not  in  itself  be  a  bugbear  on 
theological  grounds.  The  Bible  writers  would,  I  presume, 
have  no  objection  to  it  if  understood  to  mean  the  develop- 
ment of  the  plans  of  the  Creator  in  nature.  That  kind  of 
evolution  to  which  they  would  object,  and  to  which  enlight- 
ened reason  also  objects,  is  the  spontaneous  evolution  of 
nothiifg  into  atoms  and  force,  and  of  these  into  all  the  won- 
derful and  complicated  plan  of  nature,  without  any  guiding 
mind.  Farther,  biological  and  palsontological  science,  as 
well  as  the  Bible,  object  to  the  derivation  of  living  things 
from  dead  matter  by  merely  natural  means,  because  this  can 
not  be  proved  to  be  possible,  and  to  the  production  of  the 
series  of  organic  forms  found  as  fossils  in  the  rocks  of  the 
earth  by  the  process  of  struggle  for  existence  and  survival  of 
the  jfittest,  because  this  does  not  suffice  to  account  for  the 
complex  phenomena  presented  by  this  succession.  With  ref- 
erence to  the  testimony  of  palaeontology,  I  have  in  other  pub- 
lications developed  this  very  fully ;  and  would  here  merely 
quote  the  summing  up  of  the  argument,  as  given  in  my  Ad- 
dress of  1875  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science : 

"  I  have  thus  far  said  nothing  of  the  bearing  of  the  prev- 
alent ideas  of  descent  with  modification  on  this  wonderful 
procession  of  life.  None  of  these  of  course  can  be  expected 
to  take  us  back  to  the  origin  of  living  beings ;  but  they  also 


364  Appendix. 

fail  to  explain  why  so  vast  numbers  of  highly  organized  spe- 
cies struggle  into  existence  simultaneously  in  one  age  and 
disappear  in  another;  why  no  continuous  chain  of  succession 
in  time  can  be  found  gradually  blending  species  into  each 
other;  and  why  in  the  natural  succession  of  things  degrada- 
tion under  the  influence  of  external  conditions  and  final  ex- 
tinction seem  to  be  laws  of  organic  existence.  It  is  useless 
here  to  appeal  to  the  imperfection  of  the  record  or  to  the 
movements  or  migrations  of  species.  The  record  is  now  in 
many  important  parts  too  complete,  and  the  simultaneousness 
of  the  entrance  of  the  faunas  and  floras  too  certainly  estab- 
lished, and  moving  species  from  place  to  place  only  evades 
the  difficulty.  The  truth  is  that  such  hypotheses  are  at  pres- 
ent premature,  and  that  we  require  to  have  larger  collections 
of  facts.  Independently  of  this,  however,  it  appears  to  me 
that  from  a  philosophical  point  of  view  it  is  extremely  prob- 
able that  all  theories  of  evolution  as  at  preseiit  applied  to 
life  are  fundamentally  defective  in  being  too  partial  in  their 
character  ;  and  perhaps  I  can  not  better  group  the  remainder 
of  the  facts  to  which  I  wish  to  refer  than  by  using  them  to  il- 
lustrate this  feature  of  most  of  the  later  attempts  at  general- 
ization on  this  subject. 

"  First,  then,  these  hypotheses  are  too  partial  in  their  tend- 
ency to  refer  numerous  and  complex  phenomena  to  one 
cause,  or  to  a  few  causes  only,  when  all  trustworthy  analogy 
would  indicate  that  they  must  result  from  many  concurrent 
forces  and  determinations  of  force.  We  have  all  no  doubt 
read  those  ingenious,  not  to  say  amusing,  speculations  in 
which  some  entomologists  and  botanists  have  indulged  with 
reference  to  the  mutual  relations  of  flowers  and  haustellate 
insects.  Geologically  the  facts  oblige  us  to  begin  with  cryp- 
togamous  plants  and  mandibulate  insects,  and  out  of  the  de- 
sire of  insects  for  non-existent  honey,  and  the  adaptations  of 
plants  to  the  requirements  of  non-existent  suctorial  apparatus, 
we  have  to  evolve  the  marvellous  complexity  of  floral  form 


True  and  False  Evolution,  365 

and  coloring,  and  the  exquisitely  delicate  apparatus  of  the 
mouths  of  haustellate  insects.  Now  when  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that  this  theory  implies  a  mental  confusion  on  our  part  pre- 
cisely similar  to  that  which  in  the  department  of  mechan- 
ics actuates  the  seekers  for  perpetual  motion,  that  we  have 
not  the  smallest  tittle  of  evidence  that  the  changes  required 
have  actually  occurred  in  any  one  case,  and  that  the  thou- 
sands of  other  structures  and  relations  of  the  plant  and  the  in- 
sect have  to  be  worked  out  by  a  series  of  concurrent  evolu- 
tions so  complex  and  absolutely  incalculable  in  the  aggregate 
that  the  cycles  and  epicycles  of  the  Ptolemaic  astronomy  were 
child's  play  in  comparison,  we  need  not  wonder  that  the  com- 
mon-sense of  mankind  -revolts  against  such  fancies,  and  that 
we  are  accused  of  attempting  to  construct  the  universe  by 
methods  that  would  baffle  Omnipotence  itself,  because  they 
are  simply  absurd.  In  this  aspect  of  them  indeed  such  spec- 
ulations are  necessarily  futile,  because  no  mind  can  grasp  all 
the  complexities  of  even  any  one  case,  and  it  is  useless  to  fol- 
low out  an  imaginary  line  of  development  which  unexplained 
facts  must  contradict  at  every  step.  This  is  also  no  doubt 
the  reason  why  all  recent  attempts  at  constructing  '  Phylog- 
enies '  are  so  changeable,  and  why  no  two  experts  can  agree 
about  the  details  of  any  of  them. 

"A  second  aspect  in  which  such  speculations  are  too  partial 
is  in  the  unwarranted  use  which  they  make  of  analogy.  It  is 
not  unusual  to  find  such  analogies  as  that  between  the  em- 
bryonic development  of  the  individual  animal  and  the  succes- 
sion of  animals  in  geological  time  placed  on  a  level  with  that 
reasoning  from  analogy  by  which  geologists  apply  modern 
causes  to  explain  geological  formations.  No  claim  could  be 
more  unfounded.  When  the  geologist  studies  ancient  lime- 
stones built  up  of  the  remains  of  corals,  and  then  applies  the 
phenomena  of  modern  coral  reefs  to  explain  their  origin,  he 
brings  the  latter  to  bear  on  the  former  by  an  analogy  which 
includes  not  merely  the  apparent  results,  but  the  causes  at 


366  Appendix. 

work,  and  the  conditions  of  their  action,  and  it  is  on  this  that 
the  vahdity  of  his  comparison  depends,  in  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  similarity  of  mode  of  formation.  But  when  we  compare 
the  development  of  an  animal  from  an  embryo  cell  with  the 
progress  of  animals  in  time,  though  we  have  a  curious  anal- 
ogy as  to  the  steps  of  the  process,  the  conditions  and  causes 
at  work  are  known  to  be  altogether  dissimilar,  and  therefore 
we  have  no  evidence  whatever  as  to  identity  of  cause,  and  our 
reasoning  becomes  at  once  the  most  transparent  of  fallacies. 
Farther,  we  have  no  right  here  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
conditions  of  the  embryo  are  determined  by  those  of  a  previ- 
ous adult,  and  that  no  sooner  does  this  hereditary  potentiality 
produce  a  new  adult  animal  than  the  terrible  external  agen- 
cies of  the  physical  world,  in  presence  of  which  all  life  exists, 
begin  to  tell  on  the  organism,  and  after  a  struggle  of  longer 
or  shorter  duration  it  succumbs  to  death,  and  its  substance  re- 
turns into  inorganic  nature — a  law  from  which  even  the  longer 
life  of  the  species  does  not  seem  to  exempt  it.  All  this  is  so 
plain  and  manifest  that  it  is  extraordinary  that  evolutionists 
will  continue  to  use  such  partial  and  imperfect  arguments. 
Another  example  may  be  taken  from  that  application  of  the 
doctrine  of  natural  selection  to  explain  the  introduction  of 
species  in  geological  time,  which  is  so  elaborately  discussed 
by  Sir  C.  Lyell  in  the  last  edition  of  his  '  Principles  of  Ge- 
ology.' The  great  geologist  evidently  leans  strongly  to  the 
theory,  and  claims  for  it  the  '  highest  degree  of  probability ;' 
yet  he  perceives  that  there  is  a  serious  gap  in  it,  since  no 
modern  fact  has  ever  proved  the  origin  of  a  new  species  by 
modification.  Such  a  gap,  if  it  existed  in  those  grand  analo- 
gies by  which  we  explain  geological  formations  through  mod- 
ern causes,  would  be  admitted  to  be  fatal. 

"  A  third  illustration  of  the  partial  character  of  these  hypoth- 
eses may  be  taken  from  the  use  made  of  the  theory  deduced 
from  modern  physical  discoveries,  that  life  must  be  merely  a 
product  of  the  continuous  operation  of  physical  laws.     The 


True  and  False  Evolution.  ^Gy 

assumption,  for  it  is  nothing  more,  that  the  phenomena  of  life 
are  produced  merely  by  some  arrangement  of  physical  forces, 
even  if  it  be  admitted  to  be  true,  gives  only  a  partial  explana- 
tion of  the  possible  origin  of  life.  It  does  not  account  for  the 
fact  that  life  as  a  force  or  combination  of  forces  is  set  in  an- 
tagonism to  all  other  forces.  It  does  not  account  for  the 
marvellous  connection  of  life  with  organization.  It  does  not 
account  for  the  determination  and  arrangement  of  forces  im- 
plied in  life.  A  very  simple  illustration  may  make  this  plain. 
If  the  problem  to  be  solved  were  the  origin  of  the  mariner's 
compass,  one  might  assert  that  it  is  wholly  a  physical  arrange- 
ment both  as  to  matter  and  force.  Another  might  assert  that 
it  involves  mind  and  intelligence  in  addition.  In  some  sense 
both  would  be  right.  The  properties  of  magnetic  force  and 
of  iron  or  steel  are  purely  physical,  and  it  might  even  be  with- 
in the  bounds  of  possibility  that  somewhere  in  the  universe  a 
mass  of  natural  loadstone  may  have  been  so  balanced  as  to 
swing  in  harmony  with  the  earth's  magnetism.  Yet  we  would 
surely  be  regarded  as  very  credulous  if  we  could  be  induced 
to  believe  that  the  mariner's  compass  has  originated  in  that 
way.  This  argument  applies  with  a  thousandfold  greater 
force  to  the  origin  of  life,  which  involves  even  in  its  simplest 
forms  so  many  more  adjustments  offeree  and  so  much  more 
complex  machinery. 

"  Fourthly,  these  hypotheses  are  partial,  inasmuch  as  they 
fail  to  account  for  the  vastly  varied  and  correlated  interde- 
pendencies  of  natural  things  and  forces,  and  for  the  unity  of 
plan  which  pervades  the  whole.  These  can  be  explained 
only  by  taking  into  the  account  another  element  from  without. 
Even  when  it  professes  to  admit  the  existence  of  a  God,  the 
evolutionist  reasoning  of  our  day  contents  itself  altogether 
with  the  physical  or  visible  universe,  and  leaves  entirely  out 
of  sight  the  power  of  the  unseen  and  spiritual,  as  if  this  were 
something  with  which  science  has  nothing  to  do,  but  which 
belongs  only  to  imagination  or  sentiment.     So  much  has  this 


368  Appendix. 

been  the  case,  that  when  recently  a  few  physicists  and  nat- 
uralists have  turned  to  this  aspect  of  the  case,  they  have 
seemed  to  be  teaching  new  and  startling  truths,  though  only 
reviving  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  permanent  ideas  of  our 
race.  From  the  dawn  of  human  thought  it  has  been  the  con- 
clusion alike  of  philosophers,  theologians,  and  the  common- 
sense  of  mankind  that  the  seen  can  be  explained  only  by  ref- 
erence to  the  unseen,  and  that  any  merely  physical  theory  of  the 
world  is  necessarily  partial.  This,  too,  is  the  position  of  our 
sacred  Scriptures,  and  is  broadly  stated  in  their  opening  verse; 
and  indeed  it  lies  alike  at  the  basis  of  all  true  religion  and  all 
sound  philosophy,  for  it  must  necessarily  be  that  '  the  things 
that  are  seen  are  temporal,  the  things  that  are  unseen  eter- 
nal.' With  reference  to  the  primal  aggregation  of  energy  in 
the  visible  universe,  with  reference  to  the  introduction  of  life, 
with  reference  to  the  soul  of  man,  with  reference  to  the  heav- 
enly gifts  of  genius  and  prophec}^,  with  reference  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Saviour  himself  into  the  world,  and  with  refer- 
ence to  the  spiritual  gifts  and  graces  of  God's  people — all 
these  spring  not  from  sporadic  acts  of  intervention,  but  from 
the  continuous  action  of  God  and  the  unseen  world,  and  this 
we  must  never  forget  is  the  true  ideal  of  creation  in  Scripture 
and  in  sound  theology.  Only  in  such  exceptional  and  little  in- 
fluential philosophies  as  that  of  Democritus,  and  in  the  specu- 
lations of  a  few  men  carried  off  their  balance  by  the  brilliant 
physical  discoveries  of  our  age,  has  this  necessarily  partial 
and  imperfect  view  been  adopted.  Never,  indeed,  was  its  im- 
perfection more  clear  than  in  the  light  of  modern  science. 

"  Geology,  by  tracing  back  all  present  things  to  their  origin, 
was  the  first  science  to  establish  on  a  basis  of  observed  facts 
the  necessity  of  a  beginning  and  end  of  the  world.  But  even 
physical  science  now  teaches  us  that  the  visible  world  is  a 
vast  machine  for  the  dissipation  of  energy;  that  the  processes 
going  on  in  it  must  have  had  a  beginning  in  time,  and  that  all 
things  tend  to  a  final  and  helpless  equilibrium.     This  neces- 


True  and  False  EvoliLtion.  369 

sity  implies  an  unseen  power,  an  invisible  universe,  in  which 
the  visible  universe  must  have  originated,  and  to  which  its 
energy  is  ever  returning.  The  hiatus  between  the  seen  and 
the  unseen  may  be  bridged  over  by  the  conceptions  of  atomic 
vortices  of  force,  and  by  the  universal  and  continuous  ether; 
but  whether  or  not,  it  has  become  clear  that  the  conception 
of  the  unseen  as  existing  has  become  necessary  to  our  belief 
in  the  possible  existence  of  the  physical  universe  itself,  even 
without  taking  life  into  the  account. 

"It. is  in  the  domain  of  life,  however,  that  this  necessity 
becomes  most  apparent;  and  it  is  in  the  plant  that  we  first 
clearly  perceive  a  visible  testimony  to  that  unseen  which  is 
the  counterpart  of  the  seen.  Life  in  the  plant  opposes  the 
outward  rush  of  force  in  our  system,  arrests  a  part  of  it  on  its 
way,  fixes  it  as  potential  energy,  and  thus,  forming  a  mere 
eddy,  so  to  speak,  in  the  process  of  dissipation  of  energy,  it 
accumulates  that  on  which  animal  life  and  man  himself  may 
subsist,  and  asserts  for  a  time  supremacy  over  the  seen  and 
temporal  on  behalf  of  the  unseen  and  eternal.  I  say  for  a 
time,  because  life  is,  in  the  visible  universe,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, but  a  temporary  exception,  introduced  from  that  un- 
seen world  where  it  is  no  longer  the  exception,  but  the  eternal 
rule.  In  a  still  higher  sense,  then,  than  that  in  which  matter 
and  force  testify  to  a  Creator,  organization  and  life,  whether 
in  the  plant,  the  animal,  or  man,  bear  the  same  testimony,  and 
exist  as  outposts  put  forth  in  the  succession  of  ages  from  that 
higher  heaven  that  surrounds  the  visible  universe.  In  them, 
too,  Almighty  power  is  no  doubt  conditioned  or  limited  by 
law,  yet  they  bear  more  distinctly  upon  them  the  impress  of 
their  Maker;  and,  while  all  explanations  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse which  refuse  to  recognize  its  spiritual  and  unseen  origin 
must  necessarily  be  partial  and  in  the  end  incomprehensible, 
this  destiny  falls  more  quickly  and  surely  on  the  attempt  to 
account  for  life  and  its  succession  on  merely  m.aterialistic 
principles. 

Q2 


3/0  Appendix. 

"  Here  again,  however,  I  must  remind  you  that  creation,  as 
maintained  against  such  materiahstic  evolution,  whether  by 
theology,  philosophy,  or  Holy  Scripture,  is  necessarily  a  con- 
tinuous, nay,  an  eternal  influence,  not  an  intervention  of  dis- 
connected acts.  It  is  the  true  continuity,  which  includes  and 
binds  together  all  other  continuity. 

"  It  is  here  that  natural  science  meets  with  theology,  not  as 
an  antagonist,  but  as  a  friend  and  ally  in  its  time  of  greatest 
need ;  and  I  must  here  record  my  belief  that  neither  men  of 
science  nor  theologians  have  a  right  to  separate  what  God  in 
Holy  Scripture  has  joined  together,  or  to  build  up  a  wall  be- 
tween nature  and  religion,  and  write  upon  it  *  no  thorough- 
fare.' The  science  that  does  this  must  be  impotent  to  ex- 
plain nature,  and  without  hold  on  the  higher  sentiments  of 
man.  The  theology  that  does  this  must  sink  into  mere  super- 
stition. 

"In  conclusion,  can  we  formulate  a  few  of  the  general  laws, 
or  perhaps  I  had  better  call  them  general  conclusions,  re- 
specting life,  in  which  all  palaeontologists  may  agree  ?  Per- 
haps it  is  not  possible  to  do  this  at  present  satisfactorily,  but 
the  attempt  may  do  no  harm.  We  may,  then,  I  think,  make 
the  following  affirmations : 

"  I.  The  existence  of  life  and  organization  on  the  earth  is 
not  eternal,  nor  even  coeval  with  the  beginning  of  the  physic- 
al universe,  but  may  possibly  date  from  Laurentian  or  imme- 
diately pre-Laurentian  times. 

"2.  The  introduction  of  new  species  of  animals  and  plants 
has  been  a  continuous  process,  not  necessarily  in  the  sense  of 
derivation  of  one  species  from  another,  but  in  the  higher  sense 
of  the  continued  operation  of  the  cause  or  causes  which  intro- 
duced life  at  first.  This,  as  already  stated,  I  take  to  be  the 
true  theological  or  Scriptural  as  well  as  scientific  idea  of  what 
we  ordinarily  and  somewhat  loosely  term  creation. 

"3.  Though  thus  continuous,  the  process  has  not  been  uni- 
form ;  but  periods  of  rapid  production  of  species  have  alter- 


True  and  False  Evolution.  371 

nated  with  others  in  which  many  disappeared  and  few  were 
introduced.  This  may  have  been  an  effect  of  physical  cycles 
reacting  on  the  progress  of  life. 

"4.  Species,  like  individuals,  have  greater  energy  and  vital- 
ity in  their  younger  stages,  and  rapidly  assume  all  their  varie- 
tal forms,  and  extend  themselves  as  widely  as  external  circum- 
stances will  permit.  Like  individuals  also,  they  have  their 
periods  of  old  age  and  decay,  though  the  life  of  some  species 
has  been  of  enormous  duration  in  comparison  with  that  of 
others ;  the  difference  appearing  to  be  connected  with  degrees 
of  adaptation  to  different  conditions  of  life. 

"  5.  Many  allied  species,  constituting  groups  of  animals  and 
plants,  have  made  their  appearance  at  once  in  various  parts 
of  the  earth,  and  these  groups  have  obeyed  the  same  laws 
with  the  individual  and  the  species  in  culminating  rapidly, 
and  then  slowly  diminishing,  though  a  large  group  once  intro- 
duced has  rarely  disappeared  altogether. 

"  6.  Groups  of  species,  as  genera  and  orders,  do  not  usu- 
ally begin  with  their  highest  or  lowest  forms,  but  with  in- 
termediate and  generalized  types,  and  they  show  a  capacity 
for  both  elevation  and  degradation  in  their  subsequent  his- 
tory. 

"  7.  The  history  of  life  p'resents  a  progress  from  the  lower 
to  the  higher,  and  from  the  simpler  to  the  more  complex,  and 
from  the  more  generalized  to  the  more  specialized.  In  this 
progress  new  types  are  introduced  and  take  the  place  of  the 
older  ones,  which  sink  to  a  relatively  subordinate  place  and 
become  thus  degraded.  But  the  physical  and  organic  changes 
have  been  so  correlated  and  adjusted  that  life  has  not  only 
always  maintained  its  existence,  but  has  been  enabled  to  as- 
sume more  complex  forms,  and  that  older  forms  have  been 
made  to  prepare  the  way  for  newer,  so  that  there  has  been  on 
the  whole  a  steady  elevation  culminating  in  man  himself 
Elevation  and  specialization  have,  however,  been  secured  at 
the  expense  of  vital  energy  and  range  of  adaptation,  until  the 


3/2  App£7idix. 

new  element  of  a  rational  and  inventive  nature  was  introduced 
in  the  case  of  man. 

"  8.  In  regard  to  the  larger  and  more  distinct  types,  we  can 
not  find  evidence  that  they  have,  in  their  introduction,  been 
preceded  by  similar  forms  connecting  them  with  previous 
groups;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  many  supposed 
representative  species  in  successive  formations  are  really  only 
races  or  varieties. 

"  9.  In  so  far  as  we  can  trace  their  history,  specific  types 
are  permanent  in  their  characters  from  their  introduction  to 
their  extinction,  and  their  earlier  varietal  forms  are  similar  to 
their  later  ones. 

"  10.  Palaeontology  furnishes  no  direct  evidence,  perhaps 
never  can  furnish  any,  as  to  the  actual  transformation  of  one 
species  into  another,  or  as  to  the  actual  circumstances  of  cre- 
ation of  a  species,  but  the  drift  of  its  testimony  is  to  show  that 
species  come  \xv  per  saltum,  rather  than  by  any  slow  and  grad- 
ual process. 

"  II.  The  origin  and  history  of  life  can  not,  any  more  than 
the  origin  and  determination  of  matter  and  force,  be  explained 
on  purely  material  grounds,  but  involve  the  consideration  of 
power  referable  to  the  unseen  and  spiritual  world. 

"  Different  minds  may  state  these  principles  in  different 
ways,  but  I  believe  that,  in  so  far  as  palaeontology  is  concern- 
ed, in  substance  they  must  hold  good,  at  least  as  steps  to 
higher  truths." 


Evolution  and  Creation  by  Law.  373 


B.— EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION  BY  LAW. 

Evolutionist  writers  have  a  great  horror  of  what  they  term 
"intervention."  But  they  should  be  informed  that  the  idea 
of  a  planning  Creator  does  not  involve  intervention  in  an  ex- 
traordinary or  miraculous  sense,  any  more  than  what  we  call 
the  ordinary  operations  of  nature.  It  is  a  common  but  child- 
ish prejudice  that  every  discovery  of  a  secondary  cause  di- 
minishes so  much  of  what  is  to  be  referred  to  the  agency  of 
God.  On  the  contrary,  such  discoveries  merely  aid  us  in 
comprehending  the  manner  of  his  action.  But  when  evolu- 
tionists, in  their  zeal  to  get  rid  of  creative  intervention,  trace 
all  things  to  the  interaction  of  insensate  causes,  they  fall  into 
the  absurdity  of  believing  in  absolute  unmitigated  chance  as 
the  cause  of  perfect  order.  Evidences  of  this  may  be  found 
by  the  score  in  Darwin's  works  on  the  origin  of  species.  I 
quote,  however,  from  another  and  usually  clear  thinker,  Wal- 
lace, in  a  review  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll's  "  Reign  of  Law," 
which  appeared  some  years  ago,  but  represents  very  well  this 
phase  of  thought : 

" '  It  is  curious,'  says  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  '  to  observe  the 
language  which  this  most  advanced  disciple  of  pure  natural- 
ism [Mr.  Darwin]  instinctively  uses,  when  he  has  to  describe 
the  complicated  structure  of  this  curious  order  of  plants  [the 
Orchids].  Caution  in  ascribing  intentions  to  nature  does 
not  seem  to  occur  to  him  as  possible.  Intention  is  the  one 
thing  which  he  does  see,  and  which,  when  he  does  not  see, 
he  seeks  for  diligently  until  he  finds  it.  He  exhausts  every 
form  of  words  and  of  illustration  by  which  intention  or  mental 
purpose  can  be  described.     'Contrivance' — 'curious  contriv- 


374  Appendix. 

ance' — 'beautiful  contrivance' — these  are  expressions  which 
occur  over  and  over  again.  Here  is  one  sentence  describing 
the  parts  of  a  particular  species  :  'the  labellum  is  developed 
into  a  long  nectary,  in  order  to  attract  lepidoptera,  and  we 
shall  presently  give  reason  for  suspecting  that  the  nectar  is 
purposely  so  lodged  that  it  can  be  sucked  only  slowly,  in  order 
to  give  time  for  the  curious  chemical  quality  of  this  viscid 
matter  setting  hard  and  dry.'  "  Many  other  examples  of  simi- 
lar expressions  are  quoted  by  the  duke,  who  maintains  that 
no  explanation  of  these  "  contrivances  "  has  been  or  can  be 
given,  except  on  the  supposition  of  a  personal  contriver,  spe- 
cially arranging  the  details  of  each  case,  although  causing 
them  to  be  produced  by  the  ordinary  processes  of  growth  and 
reproduction. 

"  Now  there  is  a  difficulty  in  this  view  of  the  origin  of  the 
structure  of  orchids  which  the  duke  does  not  allude  to.  The 
majority  of  flowering  plants  are  fertilized,  either  without  the 
agency  of  insects,  or,  when  insects  are  required,  without  any 
very  important  modification  of  the  structure  of  the  flower.  It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  flowers  might  have  been  formed 
as  varied,  fantastic,  and  beautiful  as  the  orchids,  and  yet  have 
been  fertilized  by  insects  in  the  same  manner  as  violets 
or  clover  or  primroses,  or  a  thousand  other  flowers.  The 
strange  springs  and  traps  and  pitfalls  found  in  the  flowers  of 
orchids  can  not  be  necessary /(?r  se,  since  exactly  the  same 
end  is  gained  in  ten  thousand  other  flowers  which  do  not  pos- 
sess them.  Is  it  not,  then,  an  extraordinary  idea  to  imagine 
the  Creator  of  the  universe  contriving  the  various  complicated 
parts  of  these  flowers  as  a  mechanic  might  contrive  an  ingen- 
ious toy  or  a  difficult  puzzle?  Is  it  not  a  more  worthy  con- 
ception that  they  are  some  of  the  results  of  those  general  laws 
which  were  so  co-ordinated  at  the  first  introduction  of  life 
upon  the  earth  as  to  result  necessarily  in  the  utmost  possible 
development  of  varied  forms?" 

A  moment's  thought  is  sufficient  to  show  that  there  is  no 


Evolution  and  Creation  by  Law.  375 

essential  difference  between  the  Creator  contriving  every  detail 
of  the  structure  of  an  orchid  and  his  producins:  it  throuf^li 
some  intermediate  cause,  or  his  commanding  it  into  existence 
by  his  almighty  word.  The  same  mental  process,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  contriver  is  implied  in  either  case.  But  there  is  an 
immeasurable  difference  between  any  of  those  ideas  and  that 
of  the  orchid  producing  its  parts  spontaneously  under  the 
operation  of  insensate  physical  law,  whatever  that  may  be, 
alone.     Again,  in  the  same  review,  Wallace  writes : 

"  The  uncertainty  of  opinion  among  naturalists  as  to  which 
are  species  and  which  varieties  is  one  of  Mr.  Darwin's  very 
strong  arguments  that  these  two  names  can  not  belong  to 
things  quite  distinct  in  nature  and  origin.  The  reviewer  says 
that  this  argument  is  of  no  weight,  because  the  works  of  man 
present  exactly  the  same  phenomena,  and  he  instances  patent 
inventions,  and  the  excessive  difficulty  of  determining  whether 
they  are  new  or  old.  I  accept  the  analogy,  and  maintain  that 
it  is  all  in  favor  of  Mr.  Darwin's  views ;  for  are  not  all  inven- 
tions of  the  same  kind  directly  affiliated  to  a  common  ancestor. 
Are  not  improved  steam-engines  or  clocks  the  lineal  descend- 
ants of  some  existing  steam-engine  or  clock  ?  Is  there  ever  a 
new  creation  in  art  or  science  any  more  than  in  nature  ?  Did 
ever  patentee  absolutely  originate  any  complete  and  entire  in- 
vention no  portion  of  which  was  derived  from  any  thing  that 
had  been  made  or  described  before  ?  It  is,  therefore,  clear  that 
the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  the  various  classes  of  inventions 
which  claim  to  be  new  is  of  the  same  nature  as  the  difficulty 
of  distinguishing  varieties  and  species,  because  neither  are 
absolute  new  creations,  but  both  are  alike  descendants  of  pre- 
existing forms,  from  which  and  from  each  other  they  differ  by 
varying  and  often  imperceptible  degrees.  It  appears,  then, 
that  however  plausible  this  writer's  objections  may  seem, 
whenever  he  descends  from  generalities  to  any  specific  state- 
ment his  supposed  difficulties  turn  out  to  be  in  reality  stron 
ly  confirmatory  of  Mr.  Darwin's  view." 


376  Appendix. 

Now  that  improved  steam-engines  are  lineal  descendants 
of  other  steam-engines  is  absolute  nonsense,  in  any  other  as- 
pect than  that  the  structure  of  one  suggested  the  structure  of 
another  to  a  contriving  mind.  We  need  not  affirm  this  of  God ; 
but  we  may  affirm  that  the  plans  of  the  creative  mind  consti- 
tute the  true  link  of  connection  between  the  different  states 
and  developments  of  inorganic  and  organic  objects.  This  is 
the  real  meaning  of  creation  by  law,  as  distinguished  from 
mere  chance  on  the  one  hand,  and  arbitrary  and  capricious 
intervention  on  the  other.  Both  of  these  extremes  are  equally 
illogical ;  and  it  can  not  be  too  frequently  repeated  that  di- 
vine revelation  avoids  both  by  maintaining  with  equal  firm- 
ness the  agency  of  the  Creator,  and  that  agency  not  capri- 
cious, but  according  to  plan  and  purpose ;  embracing  not 
merely  the  action  of  the  divine  mind  itself,  but  under  it  of 
all  the  forces  and  material  things  created. 


Modes  of  Creation.  377 


C— MODES  OF  CREATION. 

A  QUESTION  often  asked,  but  not  easily  answered,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  creation  of  animals  and  plants,  is — What  was  its 
precise  method,  and  to  what  extent  is  such  intervention  con- 
ceivable. This  is,  it  is  true,  not  a  properly  scientific  question, 
since  science  can  not  inform  us  of  the  act  of  creation.  Nor 
is  it  properly  a  theological  one,  since  revelation  appeals  to 
our  faith  in  the  facts,  without  giving  us  much  information  as 
to  the  mode.  It  can,  therefore,  be  answered  only  conjectural- 
ly,  except  in  so  far  as  the  law  or  plan  of  creation  can  be  in- 
ferred from  what  is  known,  either  from  science  or  revelation, 
as  to  the  history  of  life. 

We  may,  in  the  first  place,  assume  that  law  or  plan  must 
characterize  creation.  The  Scriptural  idea  of  it  is  not  rec- 
oncilable with  the  supposition  of  a  series  of  arbitrary  acts  any 
more  than  the  scientific  idea.  The  nature  of  these  laws,  as 
disclosed  by  Palaeontology,  has  been  already  considered  in 
a  preceding  part  of  this  Appendix.  What  we  may  conject- 
ure as  to  the  nature  of  the  creative  act  itself,  from  a  compari- 
son of  nature  and  revelation,  may  be  summed  up  as  follows  : 

I.  If  we  reduce  organized  beings  to  their  ultimate  organ- 
isms— cells  or  plastids — and  with  Spencer  and  Haeckel  sup- 
pose these  to  be  farther  divisible  into  still  smaller  particles 
or  plastidules,  each  composed  of  several  complex  particles 
of  albumen  or  protoplasm,  we  may  suppose  the  primary  act 
of  creation  to  consist  in  the  aggregation  of  molecules  of  albu- 
minous matter  into  such  plastidules  bearing  the  same  relations, 
as  "  manufactured  articles,"  to  the  future  cell  that  inorganic 
molecules  bear  to  crystals,  and  possessing  within  themselves 


378  Appendix. 

the  potencies  of  organic  forms.  This  is  the  nearest  approach 
that  we  can  make  to  the  primary  creative  act,  and  its  scien- 
tific basis  is  merely  hypothetical,  while  revelation  gives  us  no 
intimation  as  to  any  such  constitution  of  organized  matter. 

2.  The  formulae  in  Genesis,  "Let  the  land  produce,"  and 
"Let  the  waters  produce,"  imply  some  sort  of  mediate  crea- 
tion through  the  agency  of  the  land  and  the  waters,  but  of 
what  sort  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  They  include,  how- 
ever, the  idea  of  the  origin  of  the  lower  and  humbler  forms 
of  life  from  material  pre-existing  in  inorganic  nature,  and  also 
the  idea  of  the  previous  preparation  of  the  land  and  the  wa- 
ters for  the  sustenance  of  the  creatures  produced. 

3.  The  expression  in  the  case  of  man — "out  of  the  dust" — 
would  seem  to  intimate  that  the  human  body  was  constituted 
of  merely  elementary  matter,  without  any  previous  preparation 
in  organic  forms.  It  may,  however,  be  intended  merely  to 
inform  us  that,  while  the  spirit  is  in  the  image  of  God,  the 
bodily  frame  is  "  of  the  earth  earthy,"  and  in  no  respect  dif- 
ferent in  general  nature  from  that  of  the  inferior  animals. 

4.  The  Bible  indicates  some  ways  in  which  creatures  may 
be  modified  or  changed  into  new  species,  or  may  give  rise  to 
new  forms  of  life.  The  human  body  is,  we  are  told,  capable 
of  transformation  into  a  new  or  spiritual  bod}^,  different  in 
many  important  respects,  and  the  future  general  prevalence 
of  this  change  is  an  article  of  religious  faith.  The  Bible  rep- 
resents the  woman  as  produced  from  the  man  by  a  species 
of  fission,  not  known  to  us  as  a  natural  possibility,  except  in 
some  of  the  lower  forms  of  life.  The  birth  of  the  Saviour  is 
represented  as  having  been  by  parthenogenesis,  and  if  it  had 
pleased  God  that  Jesus  was  to  remain  on  earth  as  the  pro- 
genitor of  a  new  and  higher  type  of  man  to  replace  that  now 
existing,  this  might  be  regarded  as  the  introduction  of  a  new 
species.  To  what  extent  the  Creator  may  have  so  acted  on  the 
constitution  of  organized  beings  as  to  produce  changes  of  this 
kind  we  have  no  means  of  knowing;  but  if  he  have  done  so,  we 


Modes  of  Creation.  379 

may  be  sure  that  it  has  been  in  accordance  with  some  definite 
plan  or  law. 

5.  We  have  a  right  to  infer  from  Scripture  that  there  must 
be  some  creative  law  which  provides  for  the  introduction  of 
species,  de  novo,  from  unorganized  matter,  and  which  has  been 
or  is  called  into  action  by  conditions  as  yet  altogether  un- 
known to  us,  and  as  yet  inimitable,  and  therefore  in  some 
sense  miraculous.  Whether  we  shall  ever  by  scientific  inves- 
tigation discover  the  law  of  this  kind  of  divine  intervention  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  That  all  the  theories  of  spontaneous 
generation  and  derivation  hitherto  promulgated  are  but  wild 
guesses  at  it  is  but  too  evident. 

6.  Since  in  inorganic  nature  we  meet  with  such  ultimate 
facts  as  atoms  of  different  kinds  and  with  different  properties, 
and  ether  of  non-atomic  constitution,  all  of  which  seem  to  be 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  world  as  it  is,  we  may  expect 
in  like  manner  to  find  at  the  basis  of  organic  structures  and 
phenomena  varied  kinds  of  ultimate  organisms  and  forces, 
probably  much  more  complicated  than  those  of  inorganic  nat- 
ure. The  broad  simplicity  of  existing  theories  of  derivation 
and  evolution  is  thus  in  itself  a  presumption  against  their 
truth,  except  as  very  partial  explanations. 

7.  We  have  no  right  to  consider  the  species  "  after  their 
kinds"  of  revelation  as  coincident  with  the  species  recognized 
by  science.  Many  of  these  may  be  merely  races,  the  produc- 
tion of  which  in  the  course  of  time  and  in  special  circumstan- 
ces may  fall  within  the  powers  of  created  species,  and  which 
may  merely  be  the  phases  of  such  species  in  time  and  place. 
Only  the  accumulation  of  vast  additional  stores  of  facts  can 
enable  us  to  have  any  certain  opinion  on  this  point,  and  till 
it  is  settled  the  doctrine  of  derivation  must  remain  purely 
h3'pothetical. 

8.  The  inference  of  evolutionists  that  because  certain  forms 
of  life  succeed  each  other  in  geological  time,  they  must  have 
been  derived  from  each  other,  has  an  aspect  of  truth  and  sim- 


380  Appaidix. 

plicity ;  but  the  idea  of  law  or  plan  in  creation  suggests  that 
the  link  of  connection  may  be  of  a  less  direct  nature  than 
mere  descent  with  modification.  This  has  been  referred  to 
under  a  previous  head. 

9.  In  the  scheme  of  revelation  all  the  successions  and 
changes  of  organized  beings,  just  as  much  as  their  introduc- 
tion at  first,  belong  to  the  will  and  plan  of  God.  Revelation 
opposes  no  obstacle  to  any  scientific  investigation  of  the  nat- 
ure and  method  of  this  plan,  nor  does  it  contemplate  the 
idea  that  any  discoveries  of  this  kind  in  any  way  isolate  the 
Creator  from  his  works.  Farther,  inasmuch  as  God  is  always 
present  in  all  his  works,  one  part  of  his  procedure  can  scarce- 
ly be  considered  an  "intervention"  any  more  than  another. 

10.  As  an  illustration  of  the  hypothetical  condition  of  this 
subject,  and  of  the  views  which  may  be  taken  as  to  its  details, 
I  quote  from  a  memoir  of  my  own  certain  conclusions  with 
reference  to  the  origin  of  the  species  of  land  plants  which  are 
found  in  the  older  geological  formations.  The  conclusions 
stated  are  at  the  end  of  a  detailed  consideration  of  these  plants 
and  the  circumstances  of  their  occurrence  : 

"(i.)  Some  of  the  forms  reckoned  as  specific  in  the  Devo- 
nian and  Carboniferous  formations  may  be  really  derivative 
races.  There  are  indications  that  such  races  may  have  orig- 
inated in  one  or  more  of  the  following  ways :  {a)  By  a  nat- 
ural tendency  in  synthetic  types  to  become  specialized  in  the 
direction  of  one  or  other  of  their  constituent  elements.  In 
this  way  such  plants  as  Art/irosiigma  and  Psilophytoii  may 
have  assumed  new  varietal  forms,  {b)  By  embryonic  retar- 
dation or  acceleration,*  whereby  certain  species  may  have 
had  their  maturity  advanced  or  postponed,  thus  giving  them 
various  grades  of  perfection  in  reproduction  and  complexity 
of  structure.  The  fact  that  so  many  Erian  and  Carboniferous 
plants  seem  to  be  on  the  confines  of  the  groups  of  Acrogens 


*  In  the  manner  illustrated  by  Hyatt  and  Cope. 


Modes  of  Creation.  381 

and  Gymnosperms  may  be  supposed  favorable  to  such  ex- 
changes, {c)  The  contraction  and  breaking  up  of  floras  which 
occurred  in  the  Middle  Erian  and  Lower  Carboniferous  may 
have  been  eminently  favorable  to  the  production  of  such  va- 
rietal forms  as  would  result  from  what  has  been  called  the 
'struggle  for  existence.'  {d)  The  elevation  of  a  great  ex- 
panse of  new  land  at  the  close  of  the  Middle  Erian  and  the 
beginning  of  the  Coal  period  would,  by  permitting  the  exten- 
sion of  series  over  wide  areas  and  fertile  soils,  and  by  remov- 
ing the  pressure  previously  existing,  be  eminently  favorable 
to  the  production  of  new,  and  especially  of  improved,  varie- 
ties. 

"(2.)  Whatever  importance  we  may  attach  to  the  above 
supposed  causes  of  change,  w^e  still  require  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  our  specific  types.  This  may  forever  elude  our  ob- 
servation, but  we  may  at  least  hope  to  ascertain  the  external 
conditions  favorable  to  their  production.  In  order  to  attain 
even  to  this  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  critically,  with  ref- 
erence to  every  acknowledged  species,  what  its  claims  to  dis- 
tinctness are,  so  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  distinguish  spe- 
cific types  from  mere  varieties.  Having  attained  to  some 
certainty  in  this,  we  may  be  prepared  to  inquire  whether  the 
conditions  favorable  to  the  appearance  of  new  varieties  w^ere 
also  those  favorable  to  the  creation  of  new  types,  or  the  re- 
verse— whether  these  conditions  were  those  of  compression 
or  expansion,  or  to  what  extent  the  appearance  of  new  types 
may  be  independent  of  any  external  conditions,  other  than 
those  absolutely  necessary  for  their  existence.  I  am  not  with- 
out hope  that  the  further  study  of  fossil  plants  may  enable  us 
thus  to  approach  to  a  comprehension  of  the  laws  of  the  crea- 
tion, as  distinguished  from  those  of  the  continued  existence 
of  species. 

"  In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  we  have  no  good 
ground  either  to  limit  the  number  of  specific  types  beyond 
what  a  fair  study  of  our  material  may  warrant,  or  to  infer  that 


382  Appendix. 

such  primitive  types  must  necessarily  have  been  of  low  grade, 
or  that  progress  in  varietal  forms  has  always  been  upward. 
The  occurrence  of  such  an  advanced  and  specialized  type  as 
that  of  Syriiigoxylon  in  the  Middle  Devonian  should  guard 
us  against  these  errors.  The  creative  process  may  have  been 
applicable  to  the  highest  as  well  as  to  the  lowest  forms,  and 
subsequent  deviations  must  have  included  degradation  as 
well  as  elevation.  I  can  conceive  nothing  more  unreason- 
able than  the  statement  sometimes  made  that  it  is  illogical  or 
even  absurd  to  suppose  that  highly  organized  beings  could 
have  been  produced  except  by  derivation  from  previously  ex- 
isting organisms.  This  is  begging  the  whole  question  at  is- 
sue, depriving  science  of  a  noble  department  of  inquiry  on 
which  it  has  as  yet  barely  entered,  and  anticipating  by  unwar- 
ranted assertions  conclusions  which  may  perhaps  suddenly 
dawn  upon  us  through  the  inspiration  of  some  great  intellect, 
or  may  for  generations  to  come  baftle  the  united  exertions  of 
all  the  earnest  promoters  of  natural  science.  Our  present  at- 
titude should  not  be  that  of  dogmatists,  but  that  of  patient 
workers  content  to  labor  for  a  harvest  of  grand  generaliza- 
tions which  may  not  come  till  we  have  passed  away,  but 
which,  if  we  are  earnest  and  true  to  nature  and  its  Creator, 
may  reward  even  some  of  us."  * 

*  Report  on  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Upper  Silurian  and  Devonian,  1S71. 


Present  Condition  of  Theories  of  Life.         383 


D.— PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  THEORIES  OF  LIFE. 

One  of  the  most  learned  and  ingenious  essays  on  this  sub- 
ject recently  published*  states  on  its  first  page  that  all  the 
varieties  of  opinion  may  be  summed  up  under  two  heads  : 

"  I.  Those  which  require  the  addition  to  ordinary  matter  of 
an  immaterial  or  spiritual  essence,  substance,  or  power,  gen- 
eral or  local,  whose  presence  is  the  efficient  cause  of  life  ;  and, 

"  2.  Those  which  attribute  the  phenomena  of  life  solely  to  the 
mode  of  combination  of  the  ordinary  material  elements  of 
which  the  organism  is  composed,  without  the  addition  of  any 
such  immaterial  essence,  power,  or  force." 

It  is  quite  true  that  physiologists  have  up  to  this  time 
argued  out  these  two  alternatives,  and  that  at  present  the 
second  is  probably  the  more  prevalent.  It  is  however  also 
true  that  neither  includes  or  can  possibly  include  the  whole 
truth,  and  that  enlightened  theism  may  enable  us  to  hold 
both,  or  all  that  is  true  in  either.  Undoubtedly  we  must 
hold  that  a  higher  spiritual  power  or  Creator  is  necessary  to 
the  existence  of  life ;  but  then  this  is  necessary  also  to  the 
existence  of  dead  matter  and  force.  So  that  if  physiologists 
think  proper  to  trace  the  whole  phenomena  of  life  to  materi- 
al causes,  they  do  not  on  that  account  in  any  way  invalidate 
the  evidence  for  a  spiritual  Creator,  nor  for  a  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  the  higher  nature  of  man.  Yet  so  inconceivably  shal- 
low is  much  of  the  biological  reasoning  of  the  day,  that  it  is 
quite  common  to  find  physiologists  referring  all  life  to  spon- 
taneous and  uncaused  material  agencies,  because  they  have 


*  Drysdale's  "Protoplasmic  Theories  of  Life." 


384  Appendix. 

concluded  that  the  arrangements  of  matter  and  force  are  suf- 
ficient to  explain  it ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  find  theistic 
writers  accusing  physiology  of  materialism,  if  it  finds  the 
causes  of  vital  phenomena  in  material  forces,  as  if  God  could 
be  present  only  in  those  processes  which  we  can  not  under- 
stand. 

What  we  really  know  as  to  the  material  basis  of  life  may 
be  summed  up  in  a  few  words.  Chemically,  life  is  based  on 
compounds  of  the  albuminous  group.  These  are  highly  com- 
plex in  a  molecular  point  of  view,  and  seem  to  be  formed  in 
nature  only  where  certain  structures,  those  of  the  vegetable 
cell,  exist  under  certain  conditions.  These  albuminous  sub- 
stances do  not  necessarily  possess  vital  properties.  They 
may  exist  in  a  dead  state  just  as  other  substances.  Under 
certain  conditions,  however,  those  of  forming  part  of  a  so- 
called  living  organism,  they  present  phenomena  of  mechanical 
movement  and  molecular  change,  and  of  transformation  or 
transmission  of  force,  which  enable  them  to  transform  them- 
selves into  various  kinds  of  tissues,  to  nourish  these  when 
formed,  and  to  establish  a  consensus  of  action  between  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  organism;  and  these  properties  are  vastly 
varied  in  detail  according  to  the  kind  of  organism  in  which 
they  take  place,  and  the  conditions  under  which  the  organism 
exists.  The  actually  living  matter  presents  no  distinct  struct- 
ure recognizable  by  the  microscope,  and  can  not  be  distin- 
guished chemically  from  ordinary  albumen  or  protoplasm; 
but  when  living  it  must  either  exist  in  some  peculiar  and 
complex  molecular  arrangement  unknown  as  yet  to  chemistry 
and  physics,  or  must  be  actuated  by  some  force  or  form  of 
force  called  vital,  and  not  as  yet  isolated  or  reduced  to  known 
laws  or  correlation.  It  does  not  concern  theism  or  theology 
which  of  these  may  eventually  prove  to  be  the  true  view,  or  if 
it  should  be  found,  which  is  quite  possible,  that  there  is  no 
real  difference  between  them.  In  any  case  it  is  certain  that 
in  the  lower  animals,  and  in  the  merely  physiological  proper- 


Present  Condition  of  Theories  of  Life.         385 

ties  of  man  himself,  living  matter  may  act  independently  of 
any  higher  spiritual  nature  in  the  individual,  though  of  course 
not  independently  of  the  higher  power  of  God,  which  gave 
matter  its  properties  and  sustains  them  in  their  action.  It  is 
farther  certain  that  in  man  the  spiritual  nature  dominates  and 
controls  the  vital,  except  when  under  abnormal  conditions  the 
latter  unduly  gains  the  mastery,  and  quenches  altogether  the 
spirit.  In  the  language  of  the  Bible,  the  merely  vital  en- 
dowments of  the  man  belong  to  the  flesh  (<to|0^),  and  to  the 
rational  mind  or  soul  {-^vyj]).  The  higher  nature  which  man 
derives  directly  from  God  is  the  spirit  (Trrevfia).  Either  of 
these  parts  of  the  complex  humanity  is  capable  of  life  {^cj})) 
and  of  immortality.  Either  of  them  is  capable  of  being  in  a 
state  of  death,  though  the  import  of  this  differs  in  its  applica- 
tion to  each.  In  Genesis,  the  body  is  composed  of  the  ordi- 
nary earth-materials — the  "  dust  of  the  ground."  The  higher 
nature  is  seen  in  the  "  shadow  and  likeness  of  God,"  and  in 
the  inbreathing  of  the  Divine  Spirit  whereby  man  became  a 
"  living  soul"  in  a  higher  sense  than  that  in  which  the  animals 
possess  the  ordinary  "  breath  of  life."  With  these  views  agree 
the  later  doctrines  of  the  Bible  as  to  the  "  trichotomy "  of 
"body,  soul,  and  spirit"  in  man,  and  of  the  added  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  as  acting  on  humanity. 

R 


386  Appendix. 


E.— RECENT    FACTS    AS    TO    THE    ORIGIN    AND 

ANTIQUITY   OF   MAN. 

Several  recent  statements  as  to  new  facts  supposed  to  prove 
a  pre-glacial  antiquity  for  our  species  have  been  promulgated 
in  scientific  journals;  but  so  great  doubt  rests  upon  them  that 
they  do  not  invalidate  the  statement  that  the  earliest  human 
remains  belong  to  the  post-glacial  age.  I  may  refer  to  the 
following : 

A  very  remarkable  discovery  was  made  in  1875  by  Professor 
Rutimeyer,  of  Basle.  In  a  brown  coal  deposit  of  Tertiary,  or 
at  least  of  "inter-glacial"  age — whatever  that  may  mean  in 
Switzerland — he  found  some  fragments  of  wood  so  interlaced 
as  to  resemble  wattle  or  basket-work.  Steenstrup  has,  how- 
ever, re-examined  the  evidence,  and  adduces  strong  reasons 
for  the  conclusion  that  the  alleged  human  workmanship  is 
really  that  of  beavers. 

The  Swedish  geologists  have  shown  that  there  is  no  prop- 
erly Palaeolithic  age  in  Scandinavia,  and  that  even  the  rein- 
deer had  probably  disappeared  from  Denmark  and  Sweden 
before  their  occupation  by  man.  Some  facts,  however,  seem- 
ed to  indicate  a  residence  of  man  in  Sweden  before  the  great 
post-pliocene  subsidence.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these 
is  the  celebrated  hut  of  Sodertelge,  referred  to  in  this  connec- 
tion by  Lyell.  Recent  observations  have,  however,  shown 
that  this  hut  was  really  covered  by  a  landslip,  and  that  its  age 
may  not  be  greater  than  eight  centuries.  Torel  has  recently 
explained  this  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Archaeological  Con- 
gress of  Stockholm. 

The  human  bone  found  in  the  Victoria  Cave  at  Settle,  ap- 


Recent  Facts  as  to  Mans  Origin  and  Antiquity.  387 

parently  under  a  patch  of  boulder-clay,  has  been  regarded  as 
a  good  evidence  of  the  pre-glacial  origin  of  man.  It  has, 
however,  always  appeared  to  readers  of  the  description  as  a 
very  doubtful  case ;  and  Professor  Hughes,  of  Cambridge, 
has  recently  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  drift  covering 
the  bone  may  be  merely  a  "  pocket "  of  that  material  dis- 
engaged from  a  cavity  in  the  limestone  by  the  wearing  of  the 
cliff. 

The  same  geologist  has  also  shown  reason  to  believe  that 
the  supposed  case  of  the  occurrence  of  palaeolithic  imple- 
ments under  boulder-clay  near  Brandon,  discovered  by  ]\Ir. 
Skertchley,  and  paraded  by  Geikie  as  a  demonstration  of  the 
"  inter-glacial  "  antiquity  of  man,  in  accordance  with  his  sys- 
tem of  successive  glacial  periods,  is  really  an  error,  and  has 
no  foundation  in  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Mr.  Pengelly  has  endeavored  to  maintain  the  value  of  the 
deposit  of  stalagmite  as  a  means  of  establishing  dates,  in  his 
"  Notes  of  Recent  Notices  of  the  Geology  of  Devonshire,"  Part 
I.,  1874;  but,  I  confess,  with  little  success.  He  urges,  in  op- 
position to  the  Ingleborough  Cave,  that  at  Cheddar,  where, 
according  to  him,  no  appreciable  deposit  whatever  is  taking 
place  on  the  existing  stalagmite.  But  this,  of  course,  is  evi- 
dence not  applicable  to  the  case  in  hand,  as  in  the  Cheddar 
case  no  stalagmite  crust  whatever  would  be  produced.  There 
are,  no  doubt,  crevices  and  caves  in  which  old  stalagmite  is 
even  being  removed  or  diminished  in  thickness.  He  farther 
asserts  that  in  Kent's  Cave  teeth  of  the  cave  bear  and  other 
extinct  animals  are  found  covered  by  not  more  than  an  mch 
and  a  half  of  stalagmite,  and  consequently  that  if  this  were 
deposited  at  the  rate  of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  per  annum— the 
supposed  rate  on  the  "  Jockey  Cap  "  at  Ingleborough-these 
animals  must  have  lived  in  Devonshire  only  six  years  ago, 
which  is,  of  course,  absurd.  But  he  fails  to  perceive  that  this 
mode  of  occurrence  is  quite  intelligible  on  the  supposition  of 
a  rapid  decrease  in  the  amount  of  deposition  in  the  later  part 


388  Appendix. 

of  the  stalagmite  period.  He  farther  refers  to  the  fact  that 
the  thicker  masses  of  stalagmite,  which  correspond  to  the 
places  of  more  active  drip  of  water,  are  in  the  same  position 
in  both  crusts  of  stalagmite.  This  shows  that  the  sources  of 
water  containing  bicarbonate  of  lime  have  been  the  same  from 
the  first;  but  it  proves  nothing  as  to  the  rate  of  deposit. 

Mr.  Pengelly's  own  estimate  of  the  rate  of  deposit  gives, 
hi:)wever,  a  length  of  time  which  is  sufficient  to  show  that  there 
must  be  error  somewhere  in  his  calculations.  He  states  the 
aggregate  thickness  of  the  two  crusts  at  twelve  feet,  and  then, 
assuming  a  rate  of  deposit  of  0.05  inch  in  250  years,  or  one 
inch  in  5000  years,  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  whole 
deposit  required  720,000  years  for  its  formation.  He  is  "  will- 
ing to  suppose"  the  mechanical  deposits  to  have  accumulated 
more  rapidly;  but  allowing  one  fourth  of  the  time  for  them, 
we  have  nearly  a  million  of  years  claimed  for  the  residence 
of  man  in  Devonshire,  which,  independently  of  other  consid- 
erations, would  push  back  the  Palaeozoic  trilobites  and  corals 
of  that  county  into  the  primitive  reign  of  fire,  and  which  in 
point  of  fact  amounts  to  a  rediictio  ad  absurdum  of  the  whole 
argument. 

Professor  Hughes*  refers,  as  a  case  of  rapid  deposition  of 
matter  akin  to  stalagmite,  to  the  deposit  of  travertine  in  the 
old  Roman  aqueduct  of  the  Pont  du  Gard,  near  Avignon, 
where  a  thickness  of  fourteen  inches  seems  to  have  accumu- 
lated in  about  800  years.  Mr.  J.  Carey  has  given  in  Nature, 
December  18,  1873,  another  instance  where  a  deposit  0.75 
inch  thick  was  formed  in  fifteen  years  in  a  lead  mine  in 
Durham.  Mr.  W.  B.  Clarke  in  the  same  journal  gives  a  case 
where  in  a  cave  at  Brixton,  known  as  Poole's  Hole,  a  deposit 
one  eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness  was  formed  in  six  months. 
Such  examples  show  how  unsafe  it  is  to  reason  as  to  the  rate 
of  deposit  in  by-gone  times,  and  when  climatal  and  local  con- 


*  Lecture  before  the  Royal  Institution  of  London. 


Recent  Facts  as  to  Maiis  Origin  and  Antiquity.  389 

ditions  may  have  been  very  different  from  those  at  present 
subsisting. 

In  an  able  address  before  the  biological  section  of  the  Brit- 
ish Association  in  1876,  Wallace  adduces  the  following  con- 
siderations as  bearing  on  these  questions;  and  these  are  well 
worthy  of  attention  as  showing  that  it  is  the  necessities  of 
evolution  rather  than  of  geological  facts  that  demand  the  as- 
sumption of  a  great  antiquity  for  man,  and  induce  so  many 
writers  to  accept  any  evidence  for  this,  however  doubtful :  (i) 
The  great  cerebral  development  of  the  so-called  Palaeolithic 
men,  which  shows  no  indications  of  graduating  into  inferior 
races.  (2)  The  great  variety  of  the  implements  of  these  an- 
cient men,  and  the  excellence  of  their  carvings  on  bone  and 
ivory,  point  to  a  similar  conclusion.  (3)  Man  is  not  related 
to  any  existing  species  of  ape,  but  in  various  ways  to  several 
different  species.  (4)  There  is  an  accumulation  of  evidence 
to  show  that  the  earliest  historical  races  excelled  in  many 
processes  in  the  arts  and  in  many  kinds  of  culture.  He  in- 
stances the  wonderful  mechanical  and  engineering  skill  evi- 
denced in  the  pyramids  of  Egypt  in  proof  of  this.  His  con- 
clusion is  either  that  the  origin  of  man  by  development  from 
apes  must  be  pushed  much  farther  back  than  any  geologists 
at  present  hold,  and  I  may  add  far  beyond  any  probable 
date,  or  that  he  must  have  originated  by  some  "distinct  and 
higher  agency"  —  which  last  is  no  doubt  the  true  conclu- 
sion. 

Haeckel,  in  his  recent  work,  the  "History  of  Creation," 
sketches  the  development  of  man  from  a  monad,  in  twenty- 
two  stages ;  but  he  has  to  admit  that  stage  twenty-first,  or 
that  of  the  "  Ape-like  man,"  nowhere  exists,  either  recent  or 
fossil.  He  has  to  assume  that  this  missing  link  has  perished 
in  the  submergence  of  an  imaginary  continent  of  Lemuria,  in 
the  Indian  Ocean ;  and  it  is  instructive  to  observe  that,  after 
deducting  this,  his  affiliation  of  the  races  of  men,  as  indicated 
in  a  map  of  the  distribution  of  the  species,  is  in  the  main  very 


390  Appendix. 

similar  to  that  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  ordinary  collec- 
tions of  maps  illustrative  of  the  Bible. 

The  Post-glacial,  Palseocosmic,  or  Palaeolithic  men  of  Eu- 
rope are  not  improbably  antediluvian  ;  and  as  to  their  precise 
date  we  know  little.  As  to  postdiluvian  man,  Canon  Rawlin- 
son  has  recently  pointed  out"*  the  remarkable  convergence  of 
all  historic  dates  toward  a  time  between  2000  to  3000  years 
B.C.,  or  about  the  date  of  the  Biblical  deluge,  which  may 
reasonably  be  inferred'  to  have  occurred  about  3200  B.C. 
He  gives  the  following  summary  of  historical  origins  as  as- 
certained from  the  best  data,  and  which  accord  wdth  the 
representation  of  the  Bible  that  in  the  time  of  Abraham  the 
great  monarchies  of  Egypt  and  the  East  were  scarcely 
more  powerful  than  the  nomad  tribe  led  by  that  patriarch  : 

Oldest  date  of  Babylon 2300  B.C. 

"  "     Assyria 1500 

"  "     Iran 1500 

"  "     India 1200 

«  "     China 1154 

"  "     Phoenicia 1700 

«  "     Troad 2000 

"  "      Egypt 2760 

Sept.  date  of  Deluge 3200 

He  rejects,  of  course,  the  fabulous  chronologies  of  Egypt, 
China,  and  India  as  mythical,  or  referring  to  pre-human  and 
antediluvian  periods.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  while  these 
dates  place  the  origins  of  the  oldest  civilized  nations  at  pe- 
riods considerably  subsequent  to  the  deluge,  they  do  not  pre- 
vent us  from  supposing  that  these  nations  commenced  their 
existence  with  an  advanced  civilization  borrowed  from  ante- 
diluvian times,  which  is  indeed  a  fair  conclusion  from  the 
Biblical  history,  independently  of  the  monumental  evidence 
referred  to  by  Wallace  in  a  previous  paragraph. 


*  Leisure  Hour,  1876. 


Recent  Facts  as  to  the  A^itiqiiity  of  Man.      391 

The  Duke  of  Argyll,  in  his  excellent  little  work  "  Primeval 
Man,"  in  which  he  discusses  the  arguments  in  favor  of  primi- 
tive savagery  advanced  by  Sir  J.  Lubbock  in  opposition  to 
the  views  of  Archbishop  Whately  in  his  lecture  on  the  "  Origin 
of  Civilization,"  shows  that  there  is  no  necessity  to  suppose 
a  slow  progress  of  mankind  in  the  arts  extending  over  indef- 
inite ages ;  and  his  argument  in  this  respect  connects  itself 
with  the  facts  as  to  the  high  cerebral  organization  of  Paloeo- 
cosmic  men  referred  to  above  by  Wallace.  In  summing  up 
one  division  of  his  argument,  he  truly  remarks  :  "  If  we  assume 
with  the  supporters  of  the  savage-theory  that  man  has  himself 
invented  all  that  he  now  knows,  then  the  very  earliest  inven- 
tions of  our  race  must  have  been  the  most  wonderful  of  all, 
and  the  richest  in  the  fruits  they  bore.  The  man  who  first 
discovered  the  use  of  fire,  and  the  use  of  those  grasses  which 
we  now  know  under  the  name  of  corn,  were  discoverers  com- 
pared with  whom,  as  regards  the  value  of  their  ideas  to  the 
world,  Faraday  and  Wheatstone  are  but  the  inventors  of  ingen- 
ious toys.  It  may  possibly  be  true,  as  Whately  argues,  that 
man  never  could  have  discovered  these  things  without  divine 
instruction.  If  so,  it  is  fatal  to  the  savage  theory.  But  it  is 
equally  fatal  to  that  theory  if  we  assume  the  opposite  position, 
and  suppose  that  the  noblest  discoveries  ever  made  by  man 
were  made  by  him  in  primeval  times." 

I  may  add  that  this  is  true,  however  far  into  antiquity  we 
may  stretch  back  these  primeval  times. 

Professor  E.  S.  Morse,  in  his  address  to  the  American  As- 
sociation, in  1876,  as  vice-president,  takes  as  a  theme  the 
contributions  of  American  zoologists  to  theories  of  evolution, 
and  closes  with  those  which  refer  to  what  he  modestly  terms 
"  man's  lowly  origin."  These  contributions  he  sums  up  un- 
der three  heads,  as  bearing  on  the  following  points:  "i.  That 
in  his  earlier  stages  he  reveals  certain  persistent  characters 
of  the  ape ;  2.  That  the  more  ancient  men  reveal  more  ape- 
like features  than  the  present  existing  men  ;  and,  3.  That  cer- 


392  Appendix. 

tain  characteristics  pertaining  to  early  men  still  persist  in  the 
inferior  races  of  men."  Under  the  first  head  he  gives  contri- 
butions to  the  well-known  fact  that  embryonic  stages  of  the 
human  being,  like  those  of  other  high  t3'pes,  approximate  to 
forms  permanent  in  lower  types.  This  is  a  fact  inseparable 
from  the  law  of  reproduction ;  and  as  has  been  already  shown 
in  the  text,  absolutely  without  logical  significance  as  even  an 
analogical  argument  in  favor  of  evolution.  Under  the  sec- 
'  ond  and  third  heads,  he  refers  to  cases  of  exceptional  skulls 
and  bones  belonging  to  idiots  and  degraded  races  of  men,  as 
showing  tendencies  to  lower  forms,  which  as  a  matter  of 
course  they  do,  though  with  essential  differences  still  mark- 
ing them  as  human  ;  and  he  assumes  without  any  proof  that 
these  were  relatively  more  common  in  primitive  times,  and 
that  they  are  cases  of  reversion  to  a  previous  simian  stage, 
instead  of  beings  results  of  abnormal  conditions  in  the  indi- 
vidual  or  variety.  He  sums  up  these  arguments  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph  : 

"  If  we  take  into  account  the  rapidly  accumulating  data  of 
European  naturalists  concerning  primitive  man,  with  the  mass 
of  evidence  presented  in  these  notes,  we  find  an  array  of  facts 
which  irresistibly  point  to  a  common  origin  with  animals  di- 
rectly below  us,  and  these  evidences  are  found  in  the  massive 
skulls  with  coarse  ridges  for  muscular  attachments,  the  round- 
ing of  the  base  of  the  nostrils,  the  early  ossification  of  the 
nasal  bones,  the  small  cranial  capacity  in  certain  forms,  the 
prominence  of  the  frontal  crest,  the  posterior  position  of  the 
foramen  magnum,  the  approximation  of  the  temporal  ridges, 
the  lateral  flattening  of  the  tibia,  the  perforation  of  the  hu- 
merus, the  tendency  of  the  pelvis  to  depart  from  its  usual  pro- 
portions; and,  associated  with  all  these,  a  rudeness  of  culture 
and  the  evidence  of  the  manifestation  of  the  coarsest  instincts. 
He  must  be  blind,  indeed,  who  can  not  recognize  the  bearing 
of  such  grave  and  suggestive  modifications." 

Yet  Professor  Alorse  knows  that  there  is  no  true  specific  or 


Recent  Facts  as  to  the  A7itiquity  of  Matt.      393 

even  generic  kinship  between  man  and  any  species  of  ape; 
that  the  phenomena  of  idiocy  and  degeneracy  have  no  real 
resemblance  to  those  of  distinct  specific  types ;  that  the  re- 
semblances of  man  to  apes,  such  as  they  are,  point  not  in  a 
direct  manner  to  any  stock  of  apes,  but  in  a  desultory  way 
to  several ;  and  consequently  that,  if  derived  from  any  such 
animals,  it  must  be  from  some  stock  altogether  unknown  to  us 
as  yet,  either  among  recent  or  fossil  animals.  Farther,  as 
Cope,  himself  an  evolutionist,  admits,  while  we  can  trace  the 
skeletons  of  Eocene  mammals  through  several  directions  of 
specialization  in  succeeding  Tertiary  times,  man  presents  the 
phenomenon  of  an  unspecialized  skeleton  which  can  not  fair- 
ly be  connected  with  any  of  these  lines.  Lastly,  his  quotation 
from  Fiske,  with  reference  to  the  supposed  effect  of  a  pro- 
tracted infancy  to  develop  the  moral  characteristics  of  man, 
though  accompanied  with  the  usual  unfair  and  unreasonable 
sneer  (which  a  naturalist  like  Morse  should  have  been 
ashamed  to  quote)  against  men  "  still  capable  of  believing 
that  the  human  race  was  created  by  miracle  in  a  single 
day,"  is  the  feeblest  possible  attempt  to  bridge  over  the  gap 
between  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  and  the  merely  psychi- 
cal nature  of  brutes. 

It  is  plain  that  if  American  naturalists  have  done  nothing 
more  in  favor  of  the  lowly  origin  of  man  than  that  which  Pro- 
fessor Morse  has  been  able,  evidently  with  much  industry  and 
pains,  to  gather,  we  need  not  for  the  present  abandon  our 
claims  to  a  higher  origin.  It  is  farther  significant  in  con- 
nection with  this  that  Professor  Huxley,  in  his  lectures  in 
New  York,  while  resting  his  case  as  to  the  lower  animals 
mainly  on  the  supposed  genealogy  of  the  horse,  which  has 
often  been  shown  to  amount  to  no  certain  evidence,*  avoided 
altogether  the  discussion  of  the  origin  of  man  from  apes, 
now  obviously  complicated  with  so  many  difficulties  that  both 


*  See  critique  in  International  Reviezv,  January,  1877. 

R2 


394  Appendix. 

Wallace  and  Mivart  are  staggered  by  them.  Professor 
Thomas,  in  his  recent  lectures,*  admits  that  there  is  no  lower 
man  known  than  the  Australian,  and  that  there  is  no  known 
link  of  connection  with  the  monkeys ;  and  Haeckel  t  has  to 
admit  that  the  penultimate  link  in  his  phylogeny,  the  ape-like 
man,  is  absolutely  unknown. 

In  Chapter  XIII.  I  have  not  touched  on  the  question  of 
the  absolute  origin  of  language — this  not  being  necessary  to 
my  argument.  On  this  interesting  subject,  however,  we  have, 
in  the  naming  of  the  animals  by  the  first  man,  recorded  in  the 
second  chapter  of  Genesis,  not  only  the  primary  truth  of  his 
superiority  to  them,  but  a  farther  indication  that  the  roots  of 
human  speech,  other  than  interjectional,  lie  in  onomatopoeia, 
and  especially  in  the  voices  of  animals,  and  that  the  gift  of 
speech  was  not  the  slow  growth  of  ages,  but  an  endowment  of 
man  from  the  first,  just  as  much  as  any  of  his  other  powers  or 
properties.  An  interesting  discussion  of  this  subject  will  be 
found  in  the  concluding  chapters  of  Wilson's  "  Pre-historic 
Man,"  second  edition.  Farther,  the  so-called  "  tallies  "  found 
with  the  bones  of  Palaeocosmic  men  in  European  caves,  and 
illustrated  in  the  admirable  work  of  Christy  and  Lartet,  show 
that  the  rudiments  even  of  writing  were  already  in  possession 
of  the  oldest  race  of  men  known  to  archaeology  or  geology. 
(See  Wilson,  op.  cit.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  54.) 

I  have  not  noticed,  except  incidentally,  the  alleged  discov- 
eries of  very  ancient  human  remains  in  America,  as  they  all 
appear  very  problematical.  There  is,  however,  some  evidence 
of  the  coexistence  of  man  with  the  mastodon  and  other  post- 
glacial animals  in  Illinois  and  elsewhere. 


*  Reported  in  Nature,  1876.  f  **  History  of  Creation." 


Glacial  Periods  and  the  hit erpr elation  of  Genesis.  395 


F.— BEARING  OF   GLACIAL  PERIODS   UPON  THE 
INTERPRETATION  OF  GENESIS. 

Whatever  views  may  be  taken  as  to  that  period  of  cold 
which  occurs  at  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  and  beginning  of  the 
Modern  period,  it  can  not  be  held  to  have  constituted  any 
such  break  as  to  be  considered,  as  it  was  at  one  time,  an 
equivalent  for  the  Biblical  chaos.  This  is  proved  by  the  sur- 
vival through  this  period  of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  an- 
imals and  plants  still  existing  in  the  northern  hemisphere. 
The  chronological  system  of  animals  and  plants  has  been 
continuous,  as  the  Bible  represents  it,  since  their  first  ap- 
pearance on  earth. 

It  is  further  remarkable  that  while  there  is  geological  evi- 
dence of  climates  colder  than  the  present  in  the  temperate  re- 
gions, there  is  equally  good  proof  of  warmer  climates  even 
within  the  arctic  circle  than  those  of  the  told  temperate  re- 
gions at  present.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  these  vicissi- 
tudes of  climate,  and  much  controversy  exists  on  the  subject; 
but  it  seems  certain  that  in  the  earlier  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous 
periods,  for  example,  the  supplies  of  heat  and  light  were  so 
diffused  over  the  earth  as  to  permit  the  growth  of  a  temperate 
vegetation  in  Greenland,  and  even  in  Spitzbergen.  Geolo- 
gists, however  unwillingly,  have  been  obliged  to  admit  this  as 
one  of  those  great  possibilities,  altogether  unexpected  before- 
hand, which  have  been  developed  in  the  history  of  our  planet. 
Various  modes  of  explaining  this  succession  of  cold  and 
warm  periods  have  been  adopted,  all  more  or  less  hypothet- 
ical. Lyell  has  argued  that  it  may  be  explained  by  a  differ- 
ent distribution  of  land  and  water  and  of  the  ocean  currents. 


39^  ■  Appendix. 

Croll  accounts  for  it  by  the  varying  eccentricity  of  the  earth's 
orbit,  in  connection  with  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes. 
Evans  by  a  shifting  of  the  axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth. 
Drayson,  Bell,  Warring,  and  others,  by  a  change  in  the  inclina- 
tion of  the  earth's  axis.  Others  by  the  secular  diminution  of 
the  internal  heat  of  the  earth,  and  of  that  of  the  sun.  Others 
by  the  supposed  recurrence  of  periods  in  which  the  sun  gives 
more  or  less  heat,  or  in  which  the  earth  is  passing  through 
colder  or  w^armer  regions  of  space.  As  the  subject  is  of  in- 
terest with  reference  to  possible  correspondences  of  these 
great  summers  and  winters  of  the  earth  with  the  stages  of 
the  creative  work,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  shortly  the  rela- 
tive merits  of  these  theories. 

(i.)  The  hypothesis  of  Croll  is  one  of  the  most  ingenious 
and  elaborate  of  the  whole;  but  it  has  two  great  defects. 
One  is  that  the  causes  alleged  are  so  uncertain  and  so  com- 
plicated that  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  their  real  value.  An- 
other is  that  it  proves  too  much,  namely,  a  regular  succes- 
sion of  cold  and  warm  periods  throughout  geological  time, 
of  which  we  have  no  good  evidence,  and  which  is  on  many 
grounds  improbable. 

(2.)  That  the  earth's  axis  of  rotation  has  continued  un- 
changed throughout  the  whole  of  the  geological  ages  seems 
proved  by  the  fact  that  the  principal  lines  of  crumpling  and 
upheaval  from  the  Laurentian  period  downward  are  arranged 
in  great  circles  of  the  earth  tangent  to  the  polar  circle;  and 
that  the  lines  of  deposit  of  sediment  in  the  Palaeozoic  age 
are  coincident  with  the  present  direction  of  the  arctic  cur- 
rents. 

(3.)  Astronomers  consider  it  improbable  that  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecliptic  has  materially  changed,  and  serious  differences 
of  opinion  exist  as  to  the  effects  which  a  greater  or  less  obliq- 
uity would  produce  on  climate.  It  seems  certain,  however, 
that  a  less  obliquity  would  occasion  a  more  uniform  distribu- 
tion of  heat  and  light  throughout  the  year ;  and  this,  co-oper- 


Glacial  Periods  and  the  Interpretation  of  Genesis.  397 

ating  with  other  causes  leading  to  a  warm  climate,  might  en- 
able a  temperate  vegetation  to  approach  the  pole  more  close- 
ly than  at  present. 

(4.)  That  the  energy  of  the  sun's  radiation  and  the  internal 
heat  of  the  earth  have  been  slowly  decreasing  seems  certain  ; 
but  it  is  now  generally  admitted  that  these  changes  are  so 
gradual  that  little  effect  can  have  been  produced  by  them,  ex- 
cept in  the  older  geological  periods,  and  that  they  can  have 
no  connection  with  the  great  glacial  period  of  the  Post-plio- 
cene. 

(5.)  It  is  otherwise  with  the  hypothesis  that  the  sun's  heat 
may,  like  that  of  some  variable  stars,  have  increased  and  di- 
minished. There  is,  of  course,  no  direct  evidence  of  this,  ex- 
cept the  small  differences  observed  in  cycles  of  eleven  and 
fifty-five  years  from  the  greater  or  less  development  of  sun- 
spots,  and  the  analogy  of  observed  variable  stars.  Still  it  is 
a  possible  cause  of  variations  of  climate.  It 'might  also  aid 
in  accounting  for  the  extraordinary  evidences  of  desert  con- 
ditions and  desiccation  presented  by  the  salt  deposits  of  differ- 
ent geological  periods  in  temperate  latitudes. 

(6.)  The  theory  of  the  passage  of  the  earth  through  zones 
of  space  of  variable  temperature  is  now  generally  abandoned, 
as  there  seems  no  reason  to  believe  that  such  differences 
exist. 

(7.)  The  theory  of  Lyell  that  changes  in  the  distribution  of 
land  and  water  may,  with  the  possible  co-operation  of  other 
causes,  have  produced  the  observed  diversities  of  climate,  is 
that  which  seems  best  to  meet  the  conditions  presented.  It 
is  based  on  the  known  properties  of  land  and  water  as  to  the 
absorption,  radiation,  and  convection  of  heat,  and  on  the  re- 
markable diversities  of  climate  in  similar  latitudes  arising 
from  this  cause  at  present.  Farther,  it  accords  with  the 
known  fact  that  very  great  changes  of  level  have  occurred  in 
connection  with  the  glacial  period.  This  theory  undoubtedly 
embraces  a  true  cause,  admitted  by  all  geologists,  and  it  dis- 


39^  Appendix. 

penses  with  the  necessity  of  believing  in  the  recurrence  of 
glacial  periods  at  regular  intervals.  It  farther  accords  best 
with  the  evidence  afforded  by  fossils,  and  especially  by  fossil 
plants.  It  has  also  the  merit  of  directing  due  attention  to 
the  diversities  of  geographical  conditions  at  different  periods, 
and  of  dealing  with  causes  of  change  operating  within  the 
earth  itself  The  only  doubt  with  respect  to  it  is  its  suffi- 
ciency to  explain  the  changes  which  have  occurred,  and  the 
view  entertained  of  this  will  depend  very  much  on  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  facts  as  to  the  intensity  of  the  last  glacial  pe- 
riod. If  moderate  views  can  be  taken  of  this,  and  if  means 
can  be  found,  by  a  less  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic  or  otherwise, 
to  furnish  a  continuous  supply  of  light  in  the  arctic  regions, 
the  difficulties  which  have  been  alleged  against  it  would  dis- 
appear. 

(8.)  In  connection  with  former  periods  of  cold  and  warmth, 
and  with  the  existence  of  temperate  and  tropical  vegetation 
in  polar  latitudes,  we  should  not  forget  that  view  which  takes 
into  account  the  probable  effects  of  different  conditions  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  the  greater  quantity  of  carbonic  acid 
present  in  it,  in  early  geological  periods.  This  would,  of 
course,  best  apply  to  the  palaeozoic  floras,  in  so  far  as  our 
present  knowledge  extends ;  but  there  may  have  been  simi- 
lar conditions  in  later  periods.  Dr.  Sterry  Hunt  thus  states 
this  hypothesis : 

"  The  agency  of  plants  in  purifying  the  primitive  atmos- 
phere was  long  since  pointed  out  by  Brongniart,  and  our 
great  stores  of  fossil  fuel  have  been  derived  from  the  decom- 
position, by  the  ancient  vegetation,  of  the  excess  of  carbonic 
acid  of  the  early  atmosphere,  which  through  this  agency  was 
exchanged  for  oxygen  gas.  In  this  connection  the  vegetation 
of  former  periods  presents  the  curious  phenomenon  of  plants 
allied  to  those  now  growing  beneath  the  tropics  flourishing 
within  the  polar  circles.  Many  ingenious  hypotheses  have 
been  proposed  to  account  for  the  warmer  climate  of  earlier 


Glacial  Periods  and  the  Interpretation  of  Genesis.  399 

times,  but  are  at  best  unsatisfactory,  and  it  appears  to  me  that 
the  true  solution  of  the  problem  may  be  found  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  early  atmosphere,  when  considered  in  the  light  of 
Dr.  Tyndall's  beautiful  researches  on  radiant  heat.  He  has 
found  that  the  presence  of  a  few  hundredths  of  carbonic-acid 
gas  in  the  atmosphere,  while  offering  almost  no  obstacle  to 
the  passage  of  the  solar  rays,  would  suffice  to  prevent  almost 
entirely  the  loss  by  radiation  of  obscure  heat,  so  that  the  sur- 
face of  the  land  beneath  such  an  atmosphere  would  become 
like  a  vast  orchard-house,  in  which  the  conditions  of  climate 
necessary  to  a  luxuriant  vegetation  would  be  extended  even 
to  the  polar  regions." 

It  is  obvious  that,  in  the  production  of  complex  effects  of 
this  kind,  various  causes,  whether  astronomical  or  connected 
with  the  mutations  of  the  earth's  crust,  may  have  co-operated, 
and  probably  in  all  extreme  cases  did  co-operate. 

In  any  case  it  is  evident  that  the  vicissitudes  of  climate 
and  the  great  pulsations  of  the  crust,  which  have  raised  and 
depressed  portions  of  the  surface  and  changed  the  position 
of  its  covering  of  waters,  have  been  potent  agents  in  the 
.hands  of  the  Creator  in  effecting  the  changes  and  succession 
of  living  beings,  which  are  thus,  as  Genesis  intimates,  children 
of  the  waters  and  of  the  land,  and  of  the  influences  of  the 
heavens.  It  is  also  interesting  in  this  connection  to  observe 
that  the  occurrence  of  such  periods  of  general  warm  climate 
as  that  in  the  Miocene  shows  that  it  would  have  been  possi- 
ble for  man,  under  certain  conditions,  to  have  extended  him- 
self far  more  widely  in  his  Edenic  state  than  we  can  conceive 
of  in  the  present  condition  of  the  earth.  The  modern  world 
is  perhaps  even  in  this  way  "  cursed  "  for  man's  sake. 


400  Appendix. 


g.~dr.  sterry  hunt  on  the  chemistry  of 
the  primeval  earth. 

On  looking  back  to  the  reference  to  this  subject  in  Chap- 
ter v.,  I  think  it  may  be  desirable  to  present  to  the  reader 
in  some  more  definite  manner  the  conditions  of  a  forming 
world;  and  I  can  not  do  this  in  any  other  way  so  well  as 
by  quoting  the  words  of  Dr.  Sterry  Hunt,  as  given  in  the 
abstract  of  his  lecture  on  this  subject  delivered  before  the 
Roya4  Institution  of  London  in  1867: 

"  This  hypothesis  of  the  nature  of  the  sun  and  of  the  lu- 
minous process  going  on  at  its  surface  is  the  one  lately  put 
forward  by  Faye,  and,  although  it  has  met  with  opposition,  ap- 
pears to  be  that  which  accords  best  with  our  present  knowl- 
edge of  the  chemical  and  physical  conditions  of  matter,  such 
as  we  must  suppose  it  to  exist  in  the  condensing  gaseous 
mass  which,  according  to  the  nebular  hypothesis,  should  form 
the  centre  of  our  solar  system.  Taking  this,  as  we  have  al- 
ready done,  for  granted,  it  matters  little  whether  we  imagine 
the  different  planets  to  have  been  successively  detached  as 
rings  during  the  rotation  of  the  primal  mass,  as  is  generally 
conceived,  or  whether  we  admit  with  Chacornac  a  process  of 
aggregation  or  concretion,  operating  within  the  primal  nebu- 
lar mass,  resulting  in  the  production  of  sun  and  planets.  In 
either  case  we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  our  earth  must  at 
one  time  have  been  in  an  intensely  heated  gaseous  condition, 
such  as  the  sun  now  presents,  self-luminous,  and  with  a  proc- 
ess of  condensation  going  on  at  first  at  the  surface  only,  un- 
til by  cooling  it  must  have  reached  the  point  where  the  gase- 


The  Chemistry  of  the  Primeval  Earth.        401 

ous  centre  was  exchanged  for  one  of  combined  and  liquefied 
matter. 

"  Here  commences  the  chemistry  of  the  earth,  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  which  the  foregoing  considerations  have  been  only 
preliminary.  So  long  as  the  gaseous  condition  of  the  earth 
lasted,  we  may  suppose  the  whole  mass  to  have  been  homo- 
geneous ;  but  when  the  temperature  became  so  reduced  that 
the  existence  of  chemical  compounds  at  the  centre  became 
possible,  those  which  were  most  stable  at  the  elevated  tem- 
perature then  prevailing  would  be  first  formed.  Thus,  for 
example,  while  compounds  of  oxygen  with  mercury  or  even 
with  hydrogen  could  not  exist,  oxides  of  silicon,  aluminium, 
calcium,  magnesium,  and  iron  might  be  formed  and  condense 
in  a  liquid  form  at  the  centre  of  the  globe.  By  progressive 
cooling,  still  other  elements  would  be  removed  from  the  gase- 
ous mass,  which  would  form  the  atmosphere  of  the  non-gase- 
ous nucleus.  We  may  suppose  an  arrangement  of  the  con- 
densed matters  at  the  centre  according  to  their  respective 
specific  gravities,  and  thus  the  fact  that  the  density  of  the 
earth  as  a  whole  is  about  twice  the  mean  density  of  the 
matters  which  form  its  solid  surface  may  be  explained.  Me- 
tallic or  metalloidal  compounds  of  elements,  grouped  differ- 
ently from  any  compounds  known  to  us,  and  far  more  dense, 
may  exist  in  the  centre  of  the  earth. 

"  The  process  of  combination  and  cooling  having  gone  on 
until  those  elements  which  are  not  volatile  in  the  heat  of  our 
ordinary  furnaces  were  condensed  into  a  liquid  form,  we  may 
here  inquire  what  would  be  the  result,  upon  the  mass,  of  a 
further  reduction  of  temperature.  It  is  generally  assumed 
that  in  the  cooling  of  a  liquid  globe  of  mineral  matter,  con- 
gelation would  commence  at  the  surface,  as  in  the  case  of  wa- 
ter ;  but  water  offers  an  exception  to  most  other  liquids,  in- 
asmuch as  it  is  denser  in  the  liquid  than  in  the  solid  form. 
Hence  ice  floats  on  water,  and  freezing  water  becomes  cov- 
ered with   a  layer  of  ice,  which  protects  the  liquid  below. 


402  Appendix. 

With  most  other  matters,  however,  and  notably  with  the  vari- 
ous mineral  and  earthy  compounds  analogous  to  those  which 
may  be  supposed  to  have  formed  the  fiery-fluid  earth,  numer- 
ous and  careful  experiments  show  that  the  products  of  solidi- 
fication are  much  denser  than  the  liquid  mass ;  so  that  solidi- 
fication would  have  commenced  at  the  centre,  whose  temper- 
ature would  thus  be  the  congealing  point  of  these  liquid  com- 
pounds. The  important  researches  of  Hopkins  and  Fairbairn 
on  the  influence  of  pressure  in  augmenting  the  melting-point 
of  such  compounds  as  contract  in  solidifying  are  to  be  con- 
sidered in  this  connection. 

"  It  is  with  the  superficial  portions  of  the  fused  mineral 
mass  of  the  globe  that  we  have  now  to  do ;  since  there  is  no 
good  reason  for  supposing  that  the  deeply  seated  portions 
have  intervened  in  any  direct  manner  in  the  production  of 
the  rocks  which  form  the  superficial  crust.  This,  at  the  time 
of  its  first  solidification,  presented  probably  an  irregular,  di- 
versified surface  from  the  result  of  contraction  of  the  congeal- 
ing mass,  which  at  last  formed  a  liquid  bath  of  no  great  depth 
surrounding  the  solid  nucleus.  It  is  to  the  composition  of 
this  crust  that  we  must  direct  our  attention,  since  therein 
would  be  found  all  the  elements  (with  the  exception  of  such 
as  were  still  in  the  gaseous  form)  now  met  with  in  the  known 
rocks  of  the  earth.  This  crust  is  now  everywhere  buried  be- 
neath its  own  ruins,  and  we  can  only  from  chemical  consider- 
ations attempt  to  reconstruct  it.  If  we  consider  the  condi- 
tions through  which  it  has  passed,  and  the  chemical  affinities 
which  must  have  come  into  play,  we  shall  see  that  these  are 
just  what  would  now  result  if  the  solid  land,  sea,  and  air  were 
made  to  react  upon  each  other  under  the  influence  of  intense 
heat.  To  the  chemist  it  is  at  once  evident  that  from  this 
would  result  the  conversion  of  all  carbonates,  chlorides,  and 
sulphates  into  silicates,  and  the  separation  of  the  carbon, 
chlorine,  and  sulphur  in  the  form  of  acid  gases,  which,  with 
nitrogen,  watery  vapor,  and  a  probable  excess  of  oxygen,  would 


The  Chemistry  of  the  Primeval  Earth.        403 

form  the  dense  primeval  atmosphere.  The  resulting  fused 
mass  would  contain  all  the  bases  as  silicates,  and  must  have 
much  resembled  in  composition  certain  furnace-slags  or  vol- 
canic glasses.  The  atmosphere,  charged  with  acid  gases, 
which  surrounded  this  primitive  rock  must  have  been  of  im- 
mense density.  Under  the  pressure  of  such  a  high  baromet- 
ric column,  condensation  would  take  place  at  a  temperature 
much  above  the  present  boiling-point  of  water,  and  the  de- 
pressed portions  of  the  half-cooled  crust  would  be  flooded 
with  a  highly  heated  solution  of  hydrochloric  acid,  whose 
action  in  decomposing  the  silicates  is  easily  intelligible  to 
the  chemist.  The  formation  of  chlorides  of  the  various 
bases,  and  the  separation  of  silica,  would  go  on  until  the  af- 
finities of  the  acid  were  satisfied,  and  there  would  be  a  sepa- 
ration of  silica,  taking  the  form  of  quartz,  and  the  production 
of  a  sea-water  holding  in  solution,  besides  the  chlorides  of  so- 
dium, calcium,  and  magnesium,  salts  of  aluminium  and  other 
metallic  bases.  The  atmosphere,  being  thus  deprived  of  its 
volatile  chlorine  and  sulphur  compounds,  would  approximate 
to  that  of  our  own  time,  but  differ  in  its  greater  amount  of 
carbonic  acid. 

"  We  next  enter  into  the  second  phase  in  the  action  of  the 
atmosphere  upon  the  earth's  crust.  This,  unlike  the  first, 
which  was  subaqueous,  or  operative  only  on  the  portion  cov- 
ered with  the  precipitated  water,  is  sub-aerial,  and  consists  in 
the  decomposition  of  the  exposed  parts  of  the  primitive  crust 
under  the  influence  of  the  carbonic  acid  and  moisture  of  the 
air,  which  convert  the  complex  silicates  of  the  crust  into  a 
silicate  of  alumina,  or  clay,  while  the  separated  lime,  mag- 
nesia, and  alkalies,  being  converted  into  carbonates,  are  car- 
ried down  into  the  sea  in  a  state  of  solution. 

"  The  first  effect  of  these  dissolved  carbonates  would  be  to 
precipitate  the  dissolved  alumina  and  the  heavy  metals,  after 
which  would  result  a  decomposition  of  the  chloride  of  calcium 
of  the  sea-water,  resulting  in  the  production  of  carbonate  of 


404  Appendix, 

lime  or  limestone,  and  chloride  of  sodium  or  common  salt. 
This  process  is  one  still  going  on  at  the  earth's  surface,  slow- 
ly breaking  down  and  destroying  the  hardest  rocks,  and,  aid- 
ed by  mechanical  processes,  transforming  them  into  clays ; 
although  the  action,  from  the  comparative  rarity  of  carbonic 
acid  in  the  atmosphere,  is  less  energetic  than  in  earlier  times, 
when  the  abundance  of  this  gas,  and  a  higher  temperature,  fa- 
vored the  chemical  decomposition  of  the  rocks.  But  now,  as 
then,  every  clod  of  clay  formed  from  the  decay  of  a  crystalline 
rock  corresponded  to  an  equivalent  of  carbonic  acid  abstract- 
ed from  the  atmosphere,  and  equivalents  of  carbonate  of  lime 
and  common  salt  formed  from  the  chloride  of  calcium  of  the 
sea-water."* 

*  See  also  Hunt,  "  Chemical  and  Geological  Essays,"  p.  35. 


Tannin  and  BJicmah. 


405 


H.— TANNIN  AND  BHEMAH. 

The  following  synopsis  of  the  instances  of  the  occurrence 
of  the  words  tannin  and  tan  will  serve  to  show  the  propriety 
of  the  meaning,  "great  reptiles,"  assigned  in  the  text  to  the 
former,  as  well  as  to  illustrate  the  utility  in  such  cases  of 
"  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture  :" 

I.  Tannic. 


Exod.  vii.,  9. — Take  thy  rod  and 
cast  it  before  Pharaoh,  and  it  shall 
become  a  serpent. 

Deut.  xxxii.,  33.  —  Their  vine  is 
the  poison  of  dragons. 

Job  vii.,  12. — Am  I  a  sea,  or  a 
whale,  that  thou  settest  a  watch 
over  me. 


Psa.  Ixxiv,,  14. — Thou  didst  di- 
vide the  sea  by  thy  strength.  Thou 
breakest  the  heads  of  the  dragons 
in  the  waters. 

Psa.  xci.,  13.  —  The  young  lion 
and  the  drago7t  thou  shalt  tram- 
ple under  foot. 

Psa.  cxlviii.,  7. — Praise  the  Lord, 
ye  dragons  and  all  deeps. 

Isa.  xxvii.,  i. — He  shall  slay  the 
dragon  in  the  midst  of  the  sea 
[river]. 

Isa.  li.,  9. — Plath  cut  Rahab  and 
wounded  the  dragon. 


Probably  a  serpent,  though  per- 
haps a  crocodile.  (Septuagint,  "  \pa.- 

Probably  a  species  of  serpent. 
(Septuagint,  "tipa/cwv.") 

Michaelis  and  others  think,  prob- 
ably correctly,  that  the  Nile  and 
the  crocodile,  both  objects  of  vig- 
ilance to  the  Egyptians,  are  intend- 
ed.    (Septuagint,  "cpck-wK") 

Evidently  refers  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Egyptians  in  the  Red. 
Sea,  under  emblem  of  the  croco- 
dile.    (Septuagint,  "^pa/cwj'.") 

The  association  shows  that  a  pow- 
erful carnivorous  animal  is  meant. 
(Septuagint,  "  cpciKiav.'''') 

Evidently  an  aquatic  creature. 
(Septuagint,  "^paKwr.") 

A  large  predaceous  aquatic  ani- 
mal (the  crocodile),  used  here  as 
an  emblem  of  Egypt.  (Septuagint, 
**  ^pa/cwj/.") 

Same  as  above. 


4o6 


Appendix. 


Jer.  li.,  34.  —  [Nebuchadnezzar]  A  large  predaceous  animal.  (Sep- 
hath  swallowed  nie  up  as  a  dragon.      tuagint,  "^/^a/cwv.") 

Ezek.  xxix.,  3. — Pharaoh,  king  of  In  the  Hebrew  tanini  appears 
Egypt,  the  great  dragon  that  lieth  by  mistake  for  ta7inin.  This  is 
in  the  rivers.  clearly  the  crocodile  of  the   Nile. 

Verses  4  and  5  show  that  it  is  a 
large  aquatic  animal  with  scales. 
(Septuagint,  '*  dpaKojv.") 


2.  Tan. 


Psa.  xliv.,   19. — Thou   hast  sore 
broken  us  in  the  place  of  dragons. 


Isa.  xxxiv.,  13. — [Bozrah  in  Idu- 
mea]  shall  be  a  habitation  of  drag- 
ons and  a  court  of  owls  [or  ostrich- 
es]. 

Isa.  xliii.,  20. — The  wild  beasts 
shall  honor  me,  the  dragons  and 
the  ostriches,  because  I  give  water 
in  the  wilderness. 

Isa.  xiii,,  22. — Dragons   in    their 


pleasant  palaces. 


Isa.  XXXV.,  7. — And  the  parched 
ground  shall  become  a  pool,  and 
the  thirsty  land  springs  of  water; 
in  the  habitation  of  dragons,  where 
each  lay,  shall  be  grass  with  reeds 
and  rushes. 

Job  XXX.,  29. — I  am  a  brother  of 
dragons  and  a  companion  of  os- 
triches. 


Jer.  ix.,  II  ;  x.,  22. — I  will  make 
Jerusalem  heaps,  a  den  oi  dragons. 


Some  understand  this  of  ship- 
wreck ;  but,  more  probably,  the 
place  of  dragons  is  the  desert. 
(Septuagint,  "  Ka/cwdj^.") 

An  animal  inhabiting  ruins,  and 
associated  with  the  ostrich.  (Sep- 
tuagint, "  (Tlip)]^.") 

Evidently  an  animal  of  the  dry 
deserts.     (Septuagint,  ^^anprjv.^') 


Represented  as  inhabiting  the 
ruins  of  Babylon,  and  associated 
with  wild  beasts  of  the  desert.  (Sep- 
tuagint, "i^'^of.") 

An  animal  making  its  lair  or  nest 
in  dry,  parched  places.  (Septua- 
gint, '^upvig.'^) 


The  association  indicates  an  ani- 
mal of  the  desert,  and  the  context 
that  its  cry  is  mournful.  (Septua- 
gint, "<Tap)7i/.") 

Same  as  above.  See  also  Jere- 
miah xlix.,  33  ;  li.,  37 ;  and  Mai. 
i.,  3,  where  the  word  is  in  the  fe- 
male form  {tanoth).  (Septuagint, 
^^  IpcLKijiv'''  and  *'<T-poi'6oc.") 


Tannin  and  Bhemah.  407 

Lam.  iv.,  3.— Even  the  sea-mon-  In  the  Hebrew  text  the  word  is 

sters  draw  out  the  breast,  they  give  taiinin,  evidently  an  error  for  ta- 

suck    to    their    young    ones.     The  nim.     The  suckling  of  young,  and 

daughter  of  my  people  is  become  association  of  ostriches,  agree  with 

cruel,  like  the  ostriches  in  the  wil-  this.     (Septuagint,  "^pa/cwv.") 
derness. 

Micah  i.,  8.— I  will  make  a  wail-  The  wailing  cry  accords  with  the 

ing  like  the  dragons,  and  mourning  view,  of  Gesenius  that  the  jackal  is 

like  the  owls  [ostriches].  meant.     (Septuagint,  "^pajcwv.") 

We  learn  from  the  above  comparative  view  that  the  tminin 
is  an  aquatic  animal  of  large  size,  and  predaceous,  clothed 
with  scales,  and  a  fit  emblem  of  the  monarchies  of  Egypt  and 
Assyria.  In  two  places  it  is  possible  that  some  species  of 
serpent  is  denoted  by  it.  We  must  suppose,  therefore,  that 
in  Genesis  i.  it  denotes  large  crocodilian  and  perhaps  ser- 
pentiform  reptiles.  The  ta7t  is  evidently  a  small  mammal 
of  the  desert. 

I  omitted  to  notice  in  the  text  a  criticism  of  my  explanation 
of  the  word  bhemah  in  "Archaia,"  made  in  Archdeacon  Pratt's 
"Scripture  and  Science  not  at  Variance"  (edition  of  1872). 
He  opposes  to  the  meaning  of  "herbivorous  animals"  which 
I  have  sought  to  establish,  two  exceptional  passages.  In  one 
of  these,  Deut.  xxviii.,  26,  the  word  is  used  in  its  most  general 
sense  for  all  beasts,  which  the  context  shows  can  not  be  its 
meaning  in  Gen.  i.  In  the  other,  Prov.  xxx.,  30,  he  says  it  is 
applied  to  the  lion.  The  actual  expression  used,  however, 
merely  implies  that  the  lion  is  "mighty  among  hhemah^^  the 
comparison  being  probably  between  the  strength  of  the  lion 
and  that  of  oxen,  antelopes,  and  other  strong  and  active  creat- 
ures. It  does  not  affirm  that  the  lion  is  one  of  the  bhemah. 
While  I  have  every  respect  for  the  erudition  of  Archdeacon 
Pratt,  and  highly  value  his  book,  I  must  regard  this  objection 
as  an  example  of  a  style  of  biblical  exposition  much  to  be 
deprecated,  though  too  often  employed. 


4o8  Appendix. 


I.— ANCIENT  MYTHOLOGIES. 

The  current  views  respecting  the  relations  of  ancient  my- 
thologies with  each  other  and  with  the  Bible  have  been  con- 
tinually shifting  and  oscillating  between  extremes.  The 
latest  and  at  present  most  popular  of  these  extreme  views  is 
that  so  well  expounded  by  Dr.  Max  Miiller  in  his  various  es- 
says on  these  subjects,  and  which  traces  at  least  the  Indo-Eu- 
ropean theogony  to  a  mere  personification  of  natural  objects. 
The  views  given  in  the  text  are  those  which  to  the  author  ap- 
pear alone  compatible  with  the  Bible,  and  with  the  relations 
of  Semitic  and  Aryan  theology ;  but,  as  the  subject  is  gener- 
ally regarded  from  a  quite  different  point  of  view,  a  little  fur- 
ther explanation  may  be  necessary. 

1.  According  to  the  Bible,  spiritual  monotheism  is  the  prim- 
itive faith  of  man,  and  with  this  it  ranks  the  doctrine  of  a  ma- 
lignant spirit  or  being  opposed  to  God,  and  of  a  primitive 
state  of  perfection  and  happiness.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
say  that  these  doctrines  may  be  found  as  sub-strata  in  all  the 
ancient  theologies. 

2.  In  the  Hebrew  theology  the  fall  introduces  the  new  doc- 
trine of  a  mediator  or  deliverer,  human  and  divine,  and  an  ex- 
ternal symbolism,  that  of  the  cherubic  forms,  composite  figures 
made  up  of  parts  of  the  man,  the  lion,  the  ox,  and  the  eagle. 
These  forms  are  referred  back  to  Eden,  where  they  are  mani- 
festly the  emblems  of  the  perfections  of  the  Deity,  lost  to  man 
by  the  fall,  and  now  opposed  to  his  entrance  into  Eden  and 
access  to  the  tree  of  life,  the  symbol  of  his  immortal  happi- 
ness. Subsequently  the  cherubim  are  the  visible  indications 
of  the  presence  of  God  in  the  tabernacle  and  temple;  and  in. 


Ancient  Mythologies.  409 

the  Apocalypse  they  reappear  as  emblems  of  the  Divine  per- 
fections, as  reflected  in  the  character  of  man  redeemed.  The 
cherubim,  as  guardians  of  the  sacred  tree,  and  of  sacred 
places  in  general,  appear  in  the  worship  of  the  Assyrians  and 
Egyptians,  as  the  winged  lions  and  bulls  of  the  former,  and 
the  sphinx  of  the  latter.  They  can  also  be  recognized  in  the 
sepulchral  monuments  of  Greek  Asia  and  of  Etruria.  Far- 
ther, it  was  evidently  an  easy  step  to  proceed  from  these 
cherubic  figures  to  the  adoration  of  sacred  animals.  But  the 
cherubic  emblems  were  connected  with  the  idea  of  a  comins: 
Redeemer,  and  this  was  with  equal  ease  perverted  into  hero- 
worship.  Every  great  conqueror,  inventor,  or  reformer  was 
thus  recognized  as  in  some  sense  the  "  coming  man,"  just  as 
Eve  supposed  she  saw  him  in  her  first-born.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  sacredness  of  the  first  mother  as  the  mother  of  the 
promised  seed  of  the  woman,  led  to  the  introduction  of  female 
deities. 

3.  The  earliest  ecclesiastical  system  was  the  patriarchal, 
and  this  also  admitted  of  corruption  into  idolatry.  The  great 
patriarch,  venerable  by  age  and  wisdom,  when  he  left  this 
earth  for  the  spirit  world,  was  supposed  there,  in  the  presence 
of  God,  to  be  the  special  guardian  of  his  children  on  earth. 
Some  of  the  gods  of  Egypt  and  of  Greece  were  obviously  of 
this  character,  and  in  China  and  Polynesia  we  see  at  this  day 
this  kind  of  idolatry  in  a  condition  of  active  vitality. 

4.  As  stated  in  the  text,  the  mythology  of  Egypt  and  Greece 
bears  evident  marks  of  having  personified  certain  cosmolog- 
ical  facts  akin  to  those  of  the  Hebrew  narrative  of  creation. 
In  this  way  ancient  idolators  disposed  of  the  prehistoric  and 
pre-Adamite  world,  changing  it  into  a  period  of  gods  and 
demigods.  This  is  very  apparent  in  the  remarkable  Assyrian 
Genesis  recovered  by  the  late  George  Smith  from  the  clay 
tablets  found  in  the  ruined  palace  of  Assurbanipal. 

5.  In  all  rude  and  imaginative  nations,  which  have  lost  the 
distinct  idea  of  the  one  God,  the  Creator,  nature  becomes 

S 


410  Appendix, 

more  or  less  a  source  of  superstitions.  Its  grand  and  more 
rare  phenomena  of  volcanoes,  earthquakes,  thunder-storms, 
eclipses,  become  supernatural  portents ;  and  as  the  idea  of 
power  associates  itself  with  them,  they  are  personified  as 
actual  agents  and  become  gods.  In  like  manner,  the  more 
constant  and  useful  objects  and  processes  of  nature  become 
personified  as  beneficent  deities.  This  may  be,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, the  character  of  the  Aryan  theology;  but,  except  where  all 
ideas  of  primitive  religion  and  traditions  of  early  history  have 
been  lost,  it  can  not  be  the  whole  of  the  religion  of  any  people. 
The  Bible  negatively  recognizes  this  source  of  idolatry,  in  so 
constantly  referring  all  natural  phenomena  to  the  divine  de- 
cree. In  connection  with  this,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  rude 
man  tends  to  venerate  the  new  animal  forms  of  strange  lands. 
Something  of  this  kind  has  probably  led  some  of  the  Ameri- 
can Indians  to  give  a  sort  of  divine  honor  to  the  bear.  It 
was  in  Egypt  that  man  first  became  familiar  with  the  strange 
and  gigantic  fauna  of  Africa,  whose  effect  on  his  mind  in 
primitive  times  we  may  gather  from  the  book  of  Job.  In 
Egypt,  consequently,  there  must  have  been  a  strong  natural 
tendency  to  the  adoration  of  animals. 

The  above  origins  of  idolatry  and  mythology,  as  stated  or 
implied  in  the  Bible,  of  course  assume  that  the  Semitic  mon- 
otheistic religion  is  the  primitive  one.  The  first  deviations 
from  it  probably  originated  in  the  family  of  Ham.  A  city  of 
the  Rephaim  of  Bashan  was  in  the  days  of  Abraham  named 
after  Ashtoreth  Karnaim  —  the  two-horned  Astarte,  a  female 
divinity  and  prototype  of  Diana,  and  perhaps  an  historic  per- 
sonage, in  whom  both  the  moon  and  the  domestic  ox  were 
rendered  objects  of  worship.  This  is  the  earliest  Bible  notice 
of  idolatry.*  In  Egypt  a  mythology  of  complex  diversity  ex- 
isted at  least  as  far  back.  We  must  remember,  however,  that 
Egypt  is  Cush  as  well  as  Mizraim,  and  its  idolatry  is  probably 


*  Except,  perhaps,  Job  xxxi.,  27. 


Ancient  Mythologies.  411 

to  be  traced,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  Nimrodic  empire, 
from  which,  as  from  a  common  centre,  certain  new  and  irre- 
ligious ideas  seem  to  have  been  propagated  among  all  the 
branches  of  the  human  family.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the 
correspondences  between  Egyptian,  Greek,  and  Hindoo  myths 
go  back  as  far  as  to  the  time  when  the  first  despotism  was 
erected  on  the  plain  of  Shinar,  and  when  able  but  ungodly 
men  set  themselves  to  erect  new  political  and  social  institu- 
tions on  the  ruins  of  all  that  their  fathers  had  held  sacred. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  mythology  and  language  of  the  Ary- 
ans alike  bear  the  impress  of  the  innovating  and  restless 
spirit  of  the  sons  of  Japhet. 

I  have  stated  the  above  propositions  to  show  that  the  Bible 
affords  a  rational  and  connected  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
false  religions  of  antiquity ;  and  to  suggest  as  inquiries  in  re- 
lation to  every  form  of  mythology — how  much  of  it  is  primi- 
tive monotheism,  how  much  cherub-worship,  how  much  hero- 
worship,  how  much  ancestor-worship,  how  much  distorted  cos- 
mogony, how  much  pure  idealism  and  superstition,  since  all 
these  are  usually  present.  I  may  be  allowed  further  to  re- 
mind the  reader  how  much  evidence  we  have,  even  in  modern 
times,  of  the  strong  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  fall  into 
one  or  another  of  these  forms  of  idolatry ;  and  to  ask  him  to 
reflect  that  really  the  only  effectual  conservative  element  is 
that  of  revelation.  How  strong  an  argument  is  this  for  the 
necessity  to  man  of  an  inspired  rule  of  religious  faith. 

[The  above  note  was  in  substance  contained  in  the  Ap- 
pendix to  "Archaia"  in  i860,  and  its  correctness  has,  I  think, 
been  confirmed  by  subsequent  discoveries.] 


412  Appendix, 


K.— ASSYRIAN  AND  EGYPTIAN  TEXTS. 

Progress  is  continually  being  made  in  the  decipherment 
and  publication  of  these,  and  new  facts  are  coming  to  light 
in  consequence  as  to  the  religions  of  the  early  postdiluvian 
period. 

According  to  the  late  George  Smith  and  to  Mr.  Sayce,  in 
their  contributions  to  Bagster's  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  the 
earliest  monumental  history  of  Babylonia  reveals  two  races, 
the  Akkadian  or  Urdu,  a  Turanian  race,  with  an  agglutinate 
language  of  the  Finnish  or  Tartar  type,  and  the  Sumir  or 
Keen-gi,  believed  to  be  Shemitic.  The  race  of  Akkad  seems 
to  have  invented  the  cuneiform  writing  at  a  very  early  period, 
and  it  no  doubt  represents  the  primitive  Cushites  of  the  Bible, 
to  whom  is  attributed  the  empire  of  Nimrod,  whose  first  cities 
were  Babel  and  Erech  and  Akkad  and  Calneh.  Verv  ancient 
inscriptions  of  this  early  Chaldean  or  Cushite  race  exist,  prob- 
ably earlier  than  the  time  of  Abraham.  That  of  king  Urukh, 
who  is  called  "a  very  ancient  king,"  on  an  inscription  of  Na- 
bonadius,  555  B.C.,  represents  himself  as  building  temples  to 
several  gods  and  goddesses,  so  that  in  his  time  there  was  al- 
ready a  developed  polytheism,  unless,  indeed,  he  was  himself 
the  inventor  or  introducer  of  much  of  it.  Yet  one  can  gather 
from  the  probably  contemporary  Creation  and  Deluge  tablets 
translated  by  Mr.  Smith,  that  a  Supreme  God  was  still  recog- 
nized, and  that  the  subordinate  deities,  though  their  worship 
was  probably  gaining  in  importance,  were  still  only  local  and 
created  beings.  Yet  it  was  undoubtedly  from  this  embryo 
idolatry  that  Abraham  dissented,  and  was  thus  led  to  leave 
his  native  land. 


Assyrian  and  Egyptian  Texts.  413 

In  like  manner,  in  the  early  Egyptian  Hymn  to  Amen  Ra, 
translated  by  Mr.  Goodwin,  though  we  have  the  gods  men- 
tioned, they  are  inferior  beings,  and  not  higher  in  position  than 
the  angels  of  the  Old  Testament,  while  Ra  himself  is  "Lord 
of  Eternity,  Maker  Everlasting,"  and  is  praised  as 

"Chief  creator  of  the  whole  earth, 
Supporter  of  affairs  above  every  god, 
In  whose  goodness  the  gods  rejoice." 

Thus,  although  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Ra  was  a  sun- 
god,  there  can  be  as  little  that  he  is  the  II  or  El  of  the  Shem- 
itic  peoples,  and  that  his  worship  represents  that  of  the  one 
God,  the  Creator.  It  seems  probable  also  that  there  was  an 
esoteric  doctrine  of  this  kind  among  the  priests  and  the  edu- 
cated, however  gross  the  polytheism  of  the  vulgar.  In  short, 
the  state  of  things  in  Assyria  and  Egypt  was  not  dissimilar 
from  that  prevailing  at  this  day  in  India,  where  learned  men 
may  fall  back  upon  the  ancient  Vedas,  and  maintain  that  their 
religion  is  monotheistic,  while  the  common  people  worship  in- 
numerable gods.  All  this  points  to  a  primitive  monotheism, 
just  as  the  peculiar  forms  of  adoration  given  to  saints  and 
the  Virgin  Mary  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  churches  histori- 
cally imply  a  primitive  Christianity  on  which  these  newer 
beliefs  and  rites  have  been  engrafted. 


414  Appendix. 


L.  — SPECIES  AND  VARIETAL  FORMS  WITH  REF- 
ERENCE TO  THE  UNITY  OF  MAN. 

In  the  concluding  chapters  of  "  Archaia  "  the  nature  of  spe- 
cies, as  distinguished  from  varieties,  was  discussed,  and  special- 
ly applied  to  the  varieties  and  races  of  man.  This  discussion 
has  been  omitted  from  the  text  of  ^he  present  work ;  but,  in 
an  abridged  form,  is  introduced  here,  with  especial  reference 
to  those  more  recent  views  of  this  subject  now  prevalent  in 
consequence  of  the  growth  of  the  philosophy  of  evolution; 
but  which  I  feel  convinced  must,  with  the  progress  of  science, 
return  nearer  to  the  opinions  held  by  me  in  i860,  and  sum- 
marized below. 

We  can  determine  species  only  by  the  comparison  of  indi- 
viduals. If  all  these  agree  in  all  their  characters  except  those 
appertaining  to  sex,  age,  and  other  conditions  of  the  individual 
merely,  we  say  that  they  belong  to  the  same  species.  If  all 
species  were  invariable  to  this  extent,  there  could  be  no  prac- 
tical difficulty,  except  that  of  obtaining  specimens  for  compar- 
ison. But  in  the  case  of  very  many  species  there  are  minor 
differences,  not  sufficient  to  establish  specific  diversity,  but  to 
suggest  its  possibility;  and  in  such  cases  there  is  often  great 
liability  to  error.  In  cases  of  this  kind  we  have  principally 
two  criteria:  first,  the  nature  and  amount  of  the  differences; 
secondly,  their  shading  gradually  into  each  other,  or  the  con- 
trary. Under  the  first  of  these  we  inquire  —  Are  they  no 
greater  in  amount  than  those  which  may  be  observed  in  indi- 
viduals of  the  same  parentage  ?  Are  they  no  greater  than 
those  which  occur  in  other  species  of  similar  structure  or  hab- 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  415 

its?  Do  they  occur  in  points  known  in  other  species  to  be 
readily  variable,  or  in  points  that  usually  remain  unchanged? 
Are  none  of  them  constant  in  the  one  supposed  species,  and 
constantly  absent  in  the  other  ?  Under  the  second  we  ask — 
Are  the  individuals  presenting  these  differences  connected 
together  by  others  showing  a  series  of  gradations  uniting 
the  extremes  by  minute  degrees  of  difference  ?  If  we  can 
answer  these  questions — or  such  of  them  as  we  have  the 
means  of  answering — in  the  affirmative,  we  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  referring  all  to  the  same  species.  If  obliged  to  answer 
all  or  many  in  the  negative,  we  must  at  least  hesitate  in  the 
identification;  and  if  the  material  is  abundant,  and  the  distin- 
guishing characters  clear  and  well  defined,  we  conclude  that 
there  is  a  specific  difference. 

Species  determined  in  this  way  must  possess  certain  general 
properties  in  common  : 

1.  Their  individuals  must  fall  within  a  certain  range  of  uni- 
form characters,  wider  or  narrower  in  the  case  of  different 
species. 

2.  The  intervals  between  species  must  be  distinctly  marked, 
and  not  slurred  over  by  intermediate  gradations. 

3.  The  specific  characters  must  be  invariably  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation,  so  that  they  remain  equally  dis- 
tinct in  their  limits  if  traced  backward  or  forward  in  time,  in 
so  far  as  our  observation  may  extend. 

4.  Within  the  limits  of  the  species  there  is  more  or  less  li- 
ability to  variation;  and  this,  though  perhaps  developed  by 
external  circumstances,  is  really  inherent  in  the  species,  and 
must  necessarily  form  a  part  of  its  proper  description. 

5.  There  is  also  a  physiological  distinction  between  species, 
namely,  that  the  individuals  are  sterile  with  one  another,  where- 
as this  does  not  apply  to  varieties ;  and  though  Darwin  has 
labored  to  break  down  this  distinction  by  insisting  on  rare  ex- 
ceptional cases,  and  suggesting  many  supposed  ways  by  which 
varieties  of  the  same  species  might  possibly  attain  to  this 


41 6  Appendix. 

kind  of  distinctness,  the  difference  still  remains  as  a  fact  in 
nature;  though  one  not  readily  available  in  practically  dis- 
tinguishing species. 

These  general  properties  of  species  will,  I  think,  be  ad- 
mitted by  all  naturalists  as  based  on  nature,  and  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  natural  history  as  a  science, 
independently  of  any  hypotheses  as  to  the  possible  changes 
of  specific  forms  in  the  lapse  of  time.  I  now  proceed  to 
give  a  similar  summary  of  the  laws  of  the  varieties  which 
may  exist  —  always,  be  it  observed,  within  the  limits  of  the 
species. 

I.  The  limits  of  variation  are  very  different  in  different 
species.  There  are  many  in  which  no  well-marked  variations 
have  been  observed.  There  are  others  in  which  the  variations 
are  so  marked  that  they  have  been  divided,  even  by  skilful  nat- 
uralists, into  distinct  species  or  even  genera.  I  do  not  here 
refer  to  differences  of  age  and  sex.  These  in  many  animals 
are  so  great  that  nothing  but  actual  knowledge  of  the  relation 
that  subsists  would  prevent  the  individuals  from  being  entire- 
ly separated  from  one  another.  I  refer  merely  to  the  varie- 
ties that  exist  in  adults  of  the  same  sex,  including,  however, 
those  that  depend  on  arrest  of  development,  and  thus  make 
the  adult  of  one  variety  resemble  in  some  respects  the  young 
of  another;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  hornless  oxen,  and  beard- 
less individuals  among  men.  If  we  inquire  as  to  the  causes  on 
which  the  greater  or  less  disposition  to  vary  depends,  we  must, 
in  the  first  place,  confess  our  ignorance,  by  saying  that  it  ap- 
pears to  be  in  a  great  measure  constitutional,  or  dependent 
on  minute  and  as  yet  not  distinctly  appreciable  structural, 
physiological,  and  psychical  characters.  Darwin  states  that 
Pallas  long  ago  suggested,  from  the  known  facts  that  the 
seeds  of  hybrid  plants  and  grafted  trees  are  very  variable,  the 
theory  that  mixture  of  breeds  tends  to  produce  variability ; 
but  Darwin  does  not  seem  to  attach  much  importance  to  this, 
and  admits  our  inability  to  explain  the  origin  of  these  differ- 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  417 

ences  *  We  know,  however,  certain  properties  of  species  tliat 
are  always  or  usually  connected  with  great  liability  to  varia- 
tion. The  principal  of  these  are  the  following:  i.  The  lia- 
bility to  vary  is,  in  many  cases,  not  merely  a  specific  peculiari- 
ty; it  is  often  general  in  the  members  of  a  genus  or  family. 
Thus  the  cats,  as  a  family,  are  little  prone  to  vary;  the  wolves 
and  foxes  very  much  so.  2.  Species  that  are  very  widely  dis- 
tributed over  the  earth's  surface  are  usually  very  variable. 
In  this  case  the  capacity  to  vary  probably  adapts  the  creature 
to  a  great  variety  of  circumstances,  and  so  enables  it  to  be 
widely  distributed.  It  must  be  observed  here  that  hardiness 
and  variability  of  constitution  are  more  important  to  extensive 
distribution  than  mere  locomotive  powers,  for  matters  have 
evidently  been  so  arranged  in  nature  that,  where  the  habitat  is 
suitable,  colonists  will  find  their  way  to  it,  even  in  the  face -of 
difficulties  almost  insurmountable.  3.  Constitutional  liability 
to  vary  is  sometimes  connected  with  or  dependent  on  extreme 
simplicity  of  structure,  in  other  cases  on  a  high  degree  of  in- 
telligence and  consequent  adaptation  to  various  modes  of  sub- 
sistence. Those  minute,  simply  organized,  and  very  variable 
creatures,  the  Foraminifera,  exemplify  the  first  of  these  ap- 
parent causes ;  the  crafty  wolves  furnish  examples  of  the 
second.  4.  Susceptibility  to  variation  is  farther  modified  by 
the  greater  or  less  adaptability  of  the  digestive  and  locomo- 
tive organs  to  varied  kinds  of  food  and  habitat.  The  monkeys, 
intelligent,  imitative,  and  active,  are  nevertheless  very  limited 
in  range  and  variability,  because  they  can  comfortably  subsist 
only  in  forests,  and  in  the  warmer  regions  of  the  earth.  The 
hog,  more  sluggish  and  less  intelligent,  has  an  omnivorous  ap- 
petite, and  no  very  special  requirements  of  habitat,  and  so  can 
vary  greatly  and  extend  over  a  large  portion  of  the  earth. 
Farther,  in  connection  with  this  subject  it  may  be  observed 
that  the  conditions  favorable  to  variation  are  also  in  the  case 


*  "Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication,"  p.  406. 

S  2 


41 8  Appendix. 

of  the  higher  animals  favorable  to  domestication,  while  it  may 
also  be  affirmed  that,  other  things  being  equal,  animals  in  a 
domesticated  state  are  much  more  liable  to  vary  than  those 
in  a  wild  state,  and  this  independent  of  intentional  selection. 
Darwin  admits  this,  and  gives  many  examples  of  it. 

2.  Varieties  may  originate  in  two  different  ways.  In  the 
case  of  wild  animals  it  is  generally  supposed  that  they  are 
gradually  induced  by  the  slow  operation  of  external  influences; 
but  it  is  certain  that  in  domesticated  animals  they  often  ap- 
pear suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  and  are  not  on  that  account 
at  all  less  permanent.  A  large  proportion  of  our  breeds  of 
domestic  animals  appear  to  originate  in  this  way.  A  very  re- 
markable instance  is  that  of  the  "Niata"  cattle  of  the  Banda 
Orientale,  described  by  Darwin  in  his  "  Voyage  of  a  Naturalist." 
These  cattle  are  believed  to  have  originated  about  a  century 
ago  among  the  Indians  to  the  south  of  the  La  Plata,  and  the 
breed  propagates  itself  with  great  constancy.  "  They  appear," 
says  Darwin,  "externally  to  hold  nearly  the  same  relation  to 
other  cattle  which  bull-dogs  hold  to  other  dogs.  Their  fore- 
head is  very  short  and  broad,  with  the  nasal  end  turned  up, 
and  the  upper  lip  much  drawn  back;  their  lower  jaws  project 
outw^ard;  when  walking  they  carry  their  heads  low  on  a  short 
neck,  and  their  hinder  legs  are  rather  longer  compared  with 
the  front  legs  than  is  usual."  It  is  farther  remarkable  in  re- 
spect to  this  breed  that  it  is,  from  its  conformation  of  head, 
less  adapted  to  the  severe  droughts  of  those  regions  than  the 
ordinary  cattle,  and  can  not,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  an 
adaptation  to  circumstances.  In  his  later  work  on  animals 
under  domestication,  Darwin  gives  many  other  instances  of 
the  origination  of  breeds  of  cattle  and  other  animals  in  this 
abrupt  and  mysterious  manner,  and  without  any  selection, 
though  he  strongly  leans  to  the  conclusion  that  slow  and 
gradual  changes  are  the  most  frequent  causes  of  variation. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  very  slow  changes  are  in 
more  danger  of  being  accidentally  diverted  or  obliterated  by 


species  and  Varietal  Forms,  41c; 

crossing,  and  that  the  first  stages  of  an  incipient  change  may 
be  too  unimportant  to  be  permanent. 

Many  writers  on  the  subject  of  the  Unity  of  Man  assume 
that  any  marked  variety  must  require  a  long  time  for  its  pro- 
duction. Our  experience  in  the  case  of  the  domestic  animals 
teaches  the  reverse  of  this  view;  a  very  important  point  too 
often  overlooked. 

3.  The  duration  or  permanence  of  varieties  is  very  differ- 
ent. Some  return  at  once  to  the  normal  type  when  the 
causes  of  change  are  removed.  Others  perpetuate  them- 
selves nearly  as  invariably  as  species,  and  are  named  races. 
It  is  these  races  only  that  we  are  likely  to  mistake  for  true 
species,  since  here  we  have  that  permanent  reproduction 
wdiich  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  species.  The  race, 
however,  wants  the  other  characteristics  of  species  as  above 
stated ;  and  it  differs  essentially  in  having  branched  from  a 
primitive  species,  and  in  not  having  an  independent  origin. 
It  is  quite  evident  that  in  the  absence  of  historical  evidence 
we  must  be  very  likely  to  err  by  supposing  races  to  have 
really  originated  in  distinct  "  primordial  forms."  Such  error 
is  especially  likely  to  arise  if  we  overlook  the  fact  of  the  sud- 
den origination  of  such  races,  and  their  great  permanency  if 
kept  distinct.  There  are  two  facts  which  deserve  especial 
notice,  as  removing  some  of  the  difficulty  in  such  cases. 
One  is  that  well-marked  races  usually  originate  only  in  do- 
mesticated animals,  or  in  wild  animals  which,  owing  to  ac- 
cidental circumstances,  are  placed  in  abnormal  circum- 
stances. Another  is,  that  there  always  remains  a  tendency 
to  return,  in  favorable  circumstances,  to  the  original  type. 
This  tendency  to  reversion  is  much  underrated  by  Darwin 
and  his  followers ;  yet  they  constantly  recur  to  it  as  a  means 
of  proving  possible  derivation,  and  their  writings  abound  in 
examples  of  it.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  these  re- 
versions are  those  which  occur  when  varieties  destitute  of 
all  the  markings  of  the  original  stock  are  crossed  and  re- 


420  Appendix. 

produce  those  markings,  which  Darwin  shows  to  occur  in 
pigeons  and  domestic  fowls.  The  domesticated  races  usual- 
ly require  a  certain  amount  of  care  to  preserve  them  in  a 
state  of  purity,  both  on  this  account  and  on  account  of  the 
readiness  with  which  they  intermix  with  other  varieties  of  the 
same  species.  Many  very  interesting  facts  in  illustration  of 
these  points  might  be  adduced.  The  domesticated  hog  dif- 
fers in  many  important  characters  from  the  wild  boar.  In 
South  America  and  the  West  Indies  it  has  returned,  in  three 
centuries  or  less,  to  its  original  form.^  The  horse  is  proba- 
bly not  known  in  a  state  originally  wild,  but  it  has  run  wild  in 
America  and  in  Siberia.  In  the  prairies  of  North  America, 
according  to  Catlin,t  they  still  show  great  varieties  of  color. 
The  same  is  the  case  in  Sable  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,!  where  herds  of  wild  horses  have  existed  since  an 
early  period  in  the  settlement  of  America.  In  South  Amer- 
ica and  Siberia  they  have  assumed  a  uniform  chestnut  or  bay 
color.  In  the  plains  of  Western  America  they  retain  the  di- 
mensions and  vigor  of  the  better  breeds  of  domesticated 
horses.  In  Sable  Island  they  have  already  degenerated  to 
the  level  of  Highland  ponies ;  but  in  all  countries  where 
they  have  run  wild,  the  elongated  and  arched  head,  high 
shoulders,  straight  back,  and  other  structural  characters  prob- 
ably of  the  original  wild  horse,  have  appeared.  We  also 
learn  from  such  instances  that,  while  races  among  domesti- 
cated animals  may  appear  suddenly,  they  revert  to  the  origi- 
nal type, when  unmixed,  comparatively  slowly;  and  this  espe- 
cially when  the  variation  is  in  the  nature  of  degeneracy. 

4.  Some  characters  are  more  subject  to  variation  than  oth- 
ers.    In  the  higher  animals  variation  takes  place  very  readily 

*  Prichard.  This  is  admitted  by  Darwin,  who  gives  other  examples, 
though  he  insists  much  on  the  climatal  variations  which  still  remain  in 
feral  pigs, 

t  "  North  American  Indians." 

X  Haliburton's  "Nova  Scotia;"  Gilpin's  Lecture  on  Sable  Island. 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  421 

in  the  color  and  texture  of  the  skin  and  its  appendages. 
This,  from  its  direct  relation  to  the  external  world,  and  ready 
sympathy  with  the  condition  of  the  digestive  organs,  might  be 
expected  to  take  the  lead.  In  those  domesticated  animals 
which  are  little  liable  to  vary  in  other  repects,  as  the  cat  and 
duck,  the  color  very  readily  changes.  Next  may  be  placed 
the  stature  and  external  proportions,  and  the  form  of  such  ap- 
pendages as  the  external  ear  and  tail.  All  these  characters 
are  very  variable  in  domestic  animals.  Next  we  may  place 
the  form  of  the  skull,  which,  though  little  variable  in  the  wild 
state,  is  nearly  always  changed  by  domestication.  Psycho- 
logical functions,  as  the  so-called  instincts  of  animals,  are  also 
very  liable  to  change,  and  to  have  these  changes  perpetuated 
in  races.  Very  remarkable  instances  of  this  have  been  col- 
lected by  Sir  C.  Lyell  *  and  Dr.  Prichard.  Lastly,  impor- 
tant physiological  characters,  as  the  period  of  gestation,  etc., 
and  the  structure  of  the  internal  organs  connected  with  the 
functions  of  nutrition,  respiration,  etc.,  are  little  liable  to 
change,  and  remain  unaffected  by  the  most  extreme  varia- 
tions in  other  points ;  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  in  these  more  essen- 
tial and  internal  parts  that  the  tendency  survives  to  return 
under  favorable  circumstances  to  the  original  type. 

5.  Varieties  or  races  of  the  same  species  are  fully  repro- 
ductive with  each  other,  which  is  not  the  case  with  true  spe- 
cies. Mutual  sterility  of  varieties  of  the  same  species  is  an 
exceptional  peculiarity,  if  it  ever  truly  exist;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  cross-fertilization  of  varieties  of  the  same 
species,  whether  in  animals  or  plants,  tends  to  vigorous  life, 
and  also  to  return  to  the  primitive  or  average  type.  On  the 
other  hand,  intermixture  of  distinct  species  rarely,  if  ever,  oc- 
curs freely  in  nature.     It  is  generally  a  result  of  artificial 


*  «  Principles  of  Geology  ;"  "  Natural  History  of  Man."  See  also  a 
very  able  article  on  the  "Varieties  of  Man,"  by  Dr.  Carpenter,  in  Todd's 
Cyclopaedia. 


422  Appendix, 

contrivance.  Again,  hybrids  produced  from  species  known 
to  be  distinct  are  either  wholly  barren,  or  barren  inter  se,  re- 
producing only  with  one  of  the  original  stocks,  and  rapidly 
returning  to  it ;  or  if  ever  fertile  inter  se,  which  is  somewhat 
doubtful,  rapidly  run  out.  It  has  been  maintained  by  Pallas 
and  others,  and  Darwin  leans  to  this  idea,  that  there  is  still 
another  possibility,  namely,  that  of  the  perfect  and  continued 
fertility  of  such  mixed  races,  especially  after  long  domestica- 
tion ;  but  their  proofs  .  are  derived  principally  from  the  in- 
termixture of  the  races  of  dogs  and  of  poultry,  which  are 
cases  actually  in  dispute  at  present,  as  to  the  original  unity 
or  diversity  of  the  so-called  species. 

If  we  apply  these  considerations  to  man,  our  conclusion 
must  be  that,  even  in  his  bodily  frame,  he  is  not  merely  spe- 
cifically but  ordinally  distinct  from  other  animals,  and  that 
the  differences  between  races  of  men  are  varietal  rather  than 
specific.     This  view  is  confirmed  by  the  following  facts  : 

I.  The  case  of  man  is  not  that  of  a  wild  animal ;  and  it 
presents  many  points  of  difference  even  from  the  case  of  the 
domesticated  lower  animals.  According  to  the  Bible  history, 
man  was  originally  fitted  to  subsist  on  fruits,  to  inhabit  a  tem- 
perate climate,  and  to  be  exempt  from  the  necessity  of  de- 
stroying or  contending  with  other  animals.  This  view  un- 
questionably accords  very  well  with  his  organization.  He 
still  subsists  principally  on  vegetable  food,  is  most  numerous 
in  the  warmer  regions  of  the  earth  ;  and,  when  so  subsisting 
in  these  regions,  is  naturally  peaceful  and  timid.  On  the 
whole,  however,  his  habits  of  life  are  artificial — more  so  than 
those  of  any  domesticated  animal.  He  is,  therefore,  in  the 
conditions  most  favorable  to  variation.  Again,  man  pos- 
sesses more  than  merely  animal  instincts.  His  mental 
powers  permit  him  to  devise  means  of  locomotion,  of  pro- 
tection, of  subsistence,  far  superior  to  those  of  any  mere  ani- 
mal ;  and  his  dominant  will,  insatiable  in  its  desires,  bends 
the  bodily  frame  to  uses  and  exposes  it  to  external  influences 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  423 

more  various  than  any  inferior  animal  can  dream  of.  Man  is 
also  more  educable  and  plastic  in  his  constitution  than  other 
animals,  owing  both  to  his  being  less  hemmed  in  by  unchang- 
ing instincts,  and  to  his  physical  frame  being  less  restricted 
in  its  adaptations.  If  a  single  species,  he  is  also  more  wide- 
ly distributed  than  any  other;  and  there  are  even  single  races 
which  exceed  in  their  extent  of  distribution  nearly  all  the  in- 
ferior animals.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  his  structure  spe- 
cially to  limit  him  to  plains,  or  hills,  or  forests,  or  coasts,  or 
inland  regions.  All  the  causes  which  we  can  suppose  likely 
to  produce  variation  thus  meet  in  man,  who  is  himself  the 
producer  of  most  of  the  distinct  races  that  we  observe  in  the 
lower  animals.  If,  therefore,  we  condescend  to  compare  man 
with  these  creatures,  it  must  be  under  protest  that  what  we 
learn  from  them  must  be  understood  with  reference  to  his 
greater  capabilities. 

2.  The  races  of  men  are  deficient  in  some  of  the  essential 
characters  of  species.  It  is  true  that  they  are  reproduced 
with  considerable  permanency  ;  though  a  great  many  cases 
of  spontaneous  change,  of  atavism,  or  return  to  the  character 
of  progenitors,  and  of  slow  variation  under  changed  condi- 
tions, have  been  recorded.  But  the  most  manifest  deficiency 
in  true  specific  characters  is  in  the  invariable  shading-off  of 
one  race  into  another,  and  in  the  entire  failure  of  those  who 
maintain  the  distinction  of  species  in  the  attempt  accurately 
to  define  their  number  and  limits.  The  characters  run  into 
each  other  in  such  a  manner  that  no  natural  arrangement 
based  on  the  whole  can  apparently  be  arrived  at ;  and  when 
one  particular  ground  is  taken,  as  color,  or  shape  of  skull,  the 
so-called  species  have  still  no  distinct  limits  ;  and  all  the  ar- 
rangements formed  differ  from  each  other,  and  from  the  de- 
ductions of  philology  and  history.  Thus,  from  the  division 
of  Virey  into  two  species,  on  the  entirely  arbitrary  ground  of 
facial  angle,  to  that  of  Bory  de  St.  Vincent  into  fifteen,  we 
have  a  great  number  and  variety  of  distinctions,  all  incapable 


424  Appendix,- 

of  zoological  definition;  or,  if  capable  of  definition,  eminently 
unnatural.  There  are,  in  short,  no  missing  links  between  the 
varieties  of  men  corresponding  to  that  which  obtains  between 
man  and  lower  animals. 

3.  The  races  of  men  differ  in  those  points  in  which  the 
higher  animals  usually  vary  with  the  greatest  facility.  The 
physical  characters  chiefly  relied  on  have  been  color,  charac- 
ter of  hair,  and  form  of  skull,  together  with  diversities  in  stat- 
ure and  general  proportion.  These  are  precisely  the  points 
in  which  our  domestic  races  are  most  prone  to  vary.  The 
manner  in  which  these  characters  differ  in  the  races  of  men 
may  be  aptly  illustrated  by  a  few  examples  of  the  arrange- 
ments to  which  they  lead. 

Dr.  Pickering,  of  the  U.  S.  Exploring  Expedition*  —  who 
does  not,  however,  commit  himself  to  any  specific  distinctions 
— has  arranged  the  various  races  of  men  on  the  very  simple 
and  obvious  ground  of  color.  He  obtains  in  this  way  four 
races — the  White,  the  Brown,  the  Blackish-brown,  the  Black. 
The  distinction  is  easy ;  but  it  divides  races  historically,  philo- 
logically,  and  structurally  alike  ;  and  unites  those  which,  on 
other  grounds,  would  be  separated.  The  white  race  includes  the 
Hamite  Abyssinian,  the  Semitic  Arabian,  the  Japhetic  Greek. 
The  Ethiopian  or  Berber  is  separated  from  the  cognate  Abys- 
sinian, and  the  dark  Hindoo  from  the  paler  races  speaking 
like  him  tongues  allied  to  the  Sanscrit.  The  Papuan,  on  the 
other  hand,  takes  his  place  with  the  Hindoo;  \vhile  the  allied 
Australian  must  be  content  to  rank  with  the  Negro;  and  the 
Hottentot  is  promoted  to  a  place  beside  the  Malay.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  pursue  any  farther  the  arrangement  of  this  pains- 
taking and  conscientious  inquirer.  It  conclusively  demon- 
strates that  the  color  of  the  varieties  of  the  human  race  must 
be  arbitrary  and  accidental,  and  altogether  independent  of 
unity  or  diversity  of  origin. 

*  "The  Races  of  Men,"  etc.     Boston,  1848. 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  425 

Some  use  has  been  made,  by  the  advocates  of  diversity  of 
species,  of  the  quahty  of  the  hair  in  the  different  races.  That 
of  the  Negro  is  said  to  be  flat  in  its  cross  section — in  this  re- 
spect approaching  to  wool ;  that  of  the  European  is  oval ; 
and  that  of  the  Mongolian  and  American  round.*  The  sub- 
ject has  as  yet  been  very  imperfectly  investigated;  but  its  in- 
dications point  to  no  greater  variety  than  that  which  occurs 
in  many  domesticated  animals — as,  for  instance,  the  hog  and 
sheep.  Nay,  Dr.  Carpenter  statesj — and  the  writer  has  sat- 
isfied himself  of  the  fact  by  his  own  observation — that  it  does 
not  exceed  the  differences  in  the  hair  from  different  parts  of 
the  body  of  the  same  individual.  The  human  hair,  like  that 
of  mammals  in  general,  consists  of  three  tissues :  an  outer 
cortical  layer,  marked  by  transverse  striae,  having  in  man  the 
aspect  of  delicate  lines,  but  in  many  other  animals  assuming 
the  character  of  distinct  joints  or  prominent  serrations;  a  layer 
of  elongated,  fibrous  cells,  to  which  the  hair  owes  most  of  its 
tenacity;  and  an  inner  cylinder  of  rounded  cells.  In  the  pro- 
portionate development  of  these  several  parts,  in  the  quantity 
of  coloring  matter  present,  and  in  the  transverse  section,  the 
human  hair  differs  very  considerably  in  different  parts  of  the 
body.  It  also  differs  very  markedly  in  individuals  of  different 
complexions.  Similar  but  not  greater  differences  obtain  in 
the  hair  of  the  scalp  in  different  races ;  but  the  flatness  of  the 
Negro's  hair  connects  itself  inseparably  with  the  oval  of  the 
hair  of  the  ordinary  European,  and  this  with  the  round  ob- 
served in  some  other  races.  It  generally  holds  that  curled 
and  frizzled  hair  is  flatter  than  that  which  is  lank  and  straight; 
but  this  is  not  constant,  for  I  have  found  that  the  waved  or 
frizzled  hair  of  the  New  Hebrideans,  intermediate  apparently 
between  the  Polynesians  and  Papuans,  is  nearly  circular  in 
outline,  and  differs  from  European  hair  mainly  in  the  greater 


*  Browne,  of  Philadelphia,  quoted  by  Kneeland  and  others, 
t  Todd's  Cyclopedia,  art.  "  Varieties  of  Man." 


426  Appendix. 

development  of  the  fibrous  structure  and  the  intensity  of  the 
color.  Large  series  of  comparisons  are  required;  but  those 
already  made  point  to  variation  rather  than  specific  difference. 
Some  facts  also  appear  to  indicate  very  marked  differences  as 
occurring  in  the  same  race  from  constant  exposure  or  habitual 
covering;  and  also  the  occasional  appearance  of  the  most  ab- 
normal forms,  without  apparent  cause,  in  individuals.  The 
differences  depending  on  greater  or  less  abundance  or  vigor 
of  growth  of  the  hair  are  obviously  altogether  trivial,  when 
compared  with  such  examples  as  the  hairless  dogs  of  Chili 
and  hairless  cattle  of  Brazil,  or  even  with  the  differences 
in  this  respect  observed  in  individuals  of  the  same  race  of 
men. 

Confessedly  the  most  important  differences  of  the  races  of 
men  are  those  of  the  skeleton,  in  all  parts  of  which  variations 
of  proportion  occur,  and  are  of  course  more  or  lessx:ommu- 
nicated  to  the  muscular  investments.  Of  these,  as  they  exist 
in  the  pelvis,  limbs,  etc.,  I  need  say  nothing;  for,  manifest 
though  they  are,  they  all  fall  far  within  the  limits  of  varia- 
tion in  familiar  domestic  animals,  and  also  of  hereditary  mal- 
formation or  defect  of  development  occurring  in  the  European 
nations,  and  only  requiring  isolation  for  its  perpetuation  as  a 
race.  The  differences  in  the  skull  merit  more  attention,  for 
it  is  in  this  and  in  its  enclosed  brain  that  man  most  marked- 
ly differs  from  the  lower  animals,  as  well  as  race  from  race. 
It  is  in  the  form  rather  than  in  the  mere  dimensions  of  the 
skull  that  we  should  look  for  specific  differences;  and  here, 
adopting  the  vertical  method  of  Blumenbach  as  the  most 
characteristic  and  valuable,  we  find  a  greater  or  less  antero- 
posterior diameter  —  a  greater  or  less  development  of  the 
jaws  and  bones  of  the  face.  The  skull  of  the  normal  Euro- 
pean, or  Caucasian  of  Cuvier,  is  round  oval;  and  the  jaws 
and  cheek-bones  project  little  beyond  its  anterior  margin, 
when  viewed  from  above.  The  skull  of  the  Mongolian  of 
Cuvier  is  nearly  round,  and  the  cheek-bones  and  jaws  pro- 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  427 

ject  much  more  strongly  in  front  and  at  the  sides.  The  Negro 
skull  is  lengthened  from  back  to  front;  the  jaws  project  strong- 
ly, or  are  prognathous;  but  the  cheek-bones  are  little  promi- 
nent. For  the  extremes  of  these  varieties,  Retzius  proposed 
the  names  of  brachy-kephalic  or  short-headed,  and  dolicho- 
kephalic  or  long-headed,  which  have  come  into  general  use. 
The  differences  indicated  by  these  terms  are  of  great  interest, 
as  distinctive  marks  of  many  of  the  unmixed  races  of  men ; 
but,  when  pushed  to  extremes,  lead  to  very  incorrect  generali- 
zations—as Professor  D.  Wilson  has  well  shown  in  his  paper 
on  the  supposed  uniformity  of  type  in  the  American  races — 
a  doctrine  which  he  fully  refutes  by  showing  that  within  a  very 
narrow  geographical  range  this  primitive  and  unmixed  race 
presents  very  great  differences  of  cranial  form.*  Exclusive 
of  idiots,  artificially  compressed  heads,  and  deformities,  the 
differertces  between  the  brachy-kephalic  and  dolicho-kephalic 
heads  range  from  equality  in  the  parietal  and  longitudinal 
diameter  to  the  proportion  of  about  14  to  24.  As  stated  by 
some  ethnologists,  these  differences  appear  quite  characteris- 
tic and  distinct;  but,  so  soon  as  we  attempt  any  minute  dis- 
crimination, all  confidence  in  them  as  specific  characters  dis- 
appears. In  our  ordinary  European  races  similar  differences, 
and  nearly  as  extensive,  occur.  The  dolicho-kephalic  head 
is  really  only  an  immature  form  perpetuated;  and  appears 
not  only  in  the  Negro,  but  in  the  Esquimau,  and  in  certain  an- 
cient and  modern  Celtic  races.  The  brachy-kephalic  head, 
in  like  manner,  is  characteristic  of  certain  tribes  and  portions 
of  tribes  of  Americans,  but  not  of  all ;  of  many  northern  Asi- 
atic nations;  of  certain  Celtic  and  Scandinavian  tribes;  and 
often  appears  in  the  modern  European  races  as  an  occasional 
character.  Farther,  as  Retzius  has  well  shown,  the  long  heads 
and  prominent  jaws  are  not  always  associated  with  each  other; 
and  his  classification  is  really  the  testimony  of  an  able  observer 


*  '« rrehistoric  Man." 


428  Appendix. 

against  the  value  of  these  characters.  He  shows  that  the 
Celtic  and  Germanic  races  (in  part)  have  long  heads  and 
straight  jaws  ;  while  the  Negroes,  Australians,  Oceanians,  Ca- 
ribs,  Greenlanders,  etc.,  have  long  heads  and  prominent  jaws. 
The  Laplanders,  Finns,  Turks,  Sclaves,  Persians,  etc.,  have 
short  heads  and  straight  jaws;  while  the  Tartars,  Mongo- 
lians, Incas,  Malays,  Papuans,  etc.,  have  short  heads  and  prom- 
inent jaws. 

Another  defect  in  the  argument  often  based  on  the  diverse 
forms  of  heads  is  its  want  of  acknowledgment  of  the  ascer- 
tained and  popularly  known  fact  that  these  forms  in  different 
tribes  or  individuals  of  the  same  race  are  markedly  influenced 
by  culture  and  habits  of  life.  In  all  races  ignprance  and  de- 
basement tend  to  induce  a  prognathous  form,  while  culture 
tends  to  the  elevation  of  the  nasal  bones,  to  an  orthognathous 
condition  of  the  jaws,  and  to  an  elevation  and  expansion  of 
the  cranium. "* 

Again,  no  adequate  allowance  has  been  made  in  the  case 
of  these  forms  of  skull  for  the  influence  of  modes  of  nurture 
in  infancy.  Dr.  Morton,  observing  that  the  brachy-kephalic 
American  skull  was  often  unequal  sided,  and  the  occiput 
much  flattened,  suggests  that  this  is  "  an  exaggeration  of  the 
natural  form  produced  by  the  pressure  of  the  cradle-board  in 
common  use  among  the  American  natives."  Dr.  Wilson  has 
noticed  the  same  unsymmetrical  character  in  brachy-kephalic 
skulls  in  British  barrows,  and  has  suspected  some  artificial 
agency  in  infancy;  and  says,  in  reference  to  the  American  in- 
stances, "  I  think  it  extremely  probable  that  further  investi- 
gation will  tend  to  the  conclusion  that  the  vertical  or  flattened 
occiput,  instead  of  being  a  typical  characteristic,  pertains  en- 
tirely to  the  class  of  artificial  modifications  of  the  natural 
cranium  familiar  to  the  American  ethnologist." 

While  the  points  in  which  the  races  of  men  vary  are  those 

*  Carpenter  in  Todd's  Cyclopcedia. 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  429 

in  which  lower  animals  are  most  liable  to  undergo  change, 
the  several  races  display  a  remarkable  constancy  in  those 
which  are  usually  less  variable.  Prichard  and  Carpenter 
have  well  shown  this  in  relation  to  physiological  points,  as,  for 
instance,  the  age  of  arriving  at  maturity,  the  average  and  ex- 
treme duration  of  life,  and  the  several  periods  connected  with 
reproduction.  The  coincidence  in  these  points  alone  is  by 
many  eminent  physiologists  justly  regarded  as  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  the  unity  of  the  species. 

4.  It  may  also  be  affirmed,  in  relation  to  the  varieties  of 
man,  that  they  do  not  exceed  in  amount  or  extent  those  ob- 
served in  the  lower  animals.  If  with  Frederick  Cuvier,  Dr. 
Carpenter,  and  many  other  naturalists,  we  regard  the  dog  as 
a  single  species,  descended  in  all  probability  from  the  wolf, 
we  can  have  no  hesitation  in  concluding  that  this  animal  far 
exceeds  man  in  variability.*  But  this  is  denied  by  many,  not 
without  some  show  of  reason ;  and  we  may,  therefore,  select 
some  animal  respecting  which  little  doubt  can  be  entertained. 
Perhaps  the  best  example  is  the  common  hog  {Sus  scrofa),  an 
undoubted  descendant  of  the  wild  boar,  and  a  creature  espe- 
cially suitable  for  comparison  with  man,  inasmuch  as  its  pos- 
sible range  of  food  is  very  much  the  same  with  his,  which  is 
not  the  case  with  any  other  of  our  domesticated  animals ; 
and  as  its  headquarters  as  a  species  are  in  the  same  regions 
which  have  supported  the  greatest  and  oldest  known  com- 
munities of  men.  We  may  exclude  from  our  comparison  the 
Chinese  hog,  by  some  regarded  as  a  distinct  species  {Sus  In- 
dicus),  though  no  wild  original  is  known,  and  it  breeds  freely 
with  the  common  hog.  The  color  of  the  domestic  hog  varies, 
like  that  of  man,  from  white  to  black ;  and  in  the  black  hog 
the  skin  as  well  as  the  hair  partakes  of  the  dark  color.     The 


*  For  an  interesting  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  the  dog,  see  the  article  in 
Todd's  Cyclopsedia  already  referred  to ;  and  the  subject  is  fully  discussed 
by  Darwin,  who  leans  to  the  theory  of  the  diversity  of  origin  in  dogs. 


430  Appendix. 

abundance  and  quality  of  the  hair  vary  extremely  ;  the  stat- 
ure and  form  are  equally  variable,  much  more  so  than  in 
man.  Blumenbach  long  ago  remarked  that  the  difference 
between  the  skull  of  the  ordinary  domestic  hog  and  that  of 
the  wild  boar  is  quite  equal  to  that  observed  between  the 
Negro  and  European  skulls.  Darwin  shows  that  it  is  much 
greater,  and  illustrates  this  by  an  amusing  pair  of  portraits. 
The  breeds  of  swine  even  differ  in  directions  altogether  un- 
paralleled in  man.  For  instance,  both  in  America  and  Eu- 
rope solid-hoofed  swine  have  originated  and  become  a  per- 
manent variety ;  and  there  is  said  to  be  another  variety  with 
live  toes.*  These  are  the  more  remarkable,  because,  in  the 
American  instances,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  com- 
mon hog  which  has  assumed  these  abnormal  forms. 

5.  All  varieties  or  races  of  men  intermix  freely,  in  a  man- 
ner which  strongly  indicates  specific  unity.  We  hold  here,  as 
already  stated,  that  no  good  case  of  a  permanent  race  arising 
from  intermixture  of  distinct  species  of  the  lower  animals  has 
been  adduced  \  but  there  is  another  fact  in  relation  to  this 
subject  which  the  advocates  of  specific  diversity  would  do 
well  to  study.  Even  in  varieties  of  those  domestic  animals 
which  are  certainly  specifically  identical,  as  the  hog,  the  sheep, 
the  ox — although  crosses  between  the  varieties  may  easily  be 
produced — they  are  not  readily  maintained,  and  sometimes 
tend  to  die  out.  What  are  called  good  crosses  lead  to  im- 
proved energy,  and  continual  breeding  in  and  in  of  the  same 
variety  leads  to  degeneracy  and  decay ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  crosses  of  certain  varieties  are  proved  by  experience 
to  be  of  weakly  and  unproductive  quality ;  and  every  practi- 
cal book  on  cattle  contains  remarks  on  the  difficulty  of  keep- 
ing up  crosses  without  intermixture  with  one  of  the  pure 
breeds.  It  would  thus  appear  that  very  unlike  varieties  of 
the  same  species  display  in  this  respect,  in  an  imperfect  man- 

*  Prichard,  Bachman,  Cabell, 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  431 

ner,  the  peculiarities  of  distinct  species.  It  is  on  this  princi- 
ple that  I  would  in  part  account  for  some  of  the  exceptional 
facts  which  occur  in  mixed  races  of  men. 

What,  then,  are  the  facts  in  the  case  of  man  ?  In  produc- 
ing crosses  of  distinct  species,  as  in  the  case  of  the  horse  and 
ass,  breeders  are  obliged  to  resort  to  expedients  to  overcome 
the  natural  repugnance  to  such  intermixture.  In  the  case  of 
even  the  most  extreme  varieties  of  man,  if  such  repugnance 
exists,  it  is  voluntarily  overcome,  as  the  slave  population  of 
America  testifies  abundantly.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
intermixtures  of  races  of  men  tend  to  increase  of  vital  energy 
and  vigor,  as  in  the  case  of  judicious  crosses  of  some  domes- 
tic animals.  Where  a  different  result  occurs,  we  usually  find 
sufficient  secondary  causes  to  account  for  it.  I  shall  refer  to 
but  one  such  case — that  of  the  half-breed  American  Indian. 
In  so  far  as  I  have  had  opportunities  of  observation  or  in- 
quiry, these  people  are  prolific,  much  more  so  than  the  un- 
mixed Indian.  They  are  also  energetic,  and  often  highly 
intellectual ;  but  they  are  of  delicate  constitution,  especially 
liable  to  scrofulous  diseases,  and  therefore  not  long-lived. 
Now  this  is  precisely  the  result  which  often  occurs  in  domes- 
tic animals,  where  a  highly  cultivated  race  is  bred  with  one 
that  is  of  ruder  character  and  training;  and  it  very  probably 
results  from  the  circumstance  that  the  progeny  may  inherit 
too  much  of  the  delicacy  of  the  one  parent  to  endure  the 
hardships  congenial  to  the  other ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  too 
much  of  the  wild  nature  of  the  ruder  parent  to  subsist  under 
the  more  delicate  nurture  of  the  more  cultivated.  This  diffi- 
culty does  not  apply  to  the  intermixture  of  the  Negro  and 
the  European,  though  between  the  pure  races  this  is  a  cross 
too  abrupt  to  be  likely  to  be  in  the  first  instance  success- 
ful. 

6.  The  races  of  man  may  have  originated  in  the  same  man- 
ner whh  the  breeds  of  our  domesticated  animals.  There  are 
many  facts  which  render  it  probable  that  they  did  originate 


432  Appendix. 

in  this  way.     Take  color,  for  instance.     The  fair  varieties  of 
man  occur  only  in  the  northern  temperate  zone,  and  chiefly 
in  the  equable  climates  of  that  zone.     In  extreme  climates, 
even   when    cold,  dusky   and   yellow    colors    appear.      The 
black  and  blackish-brown  colors  are  confined  to  the  inter- 
tropical   regions,  and    appear   in    such   portions    of  all   the 
great  races  of  mankind  as  have  been  long  domiciled  there. 
Diet  and  degree  of  exposure  have  also  evidently  very  much 
to  do  with  form,  stature,  and  color.     The  deer-eating  Chippe- 
wayan  of  certain  districts  of  North  America  is  a  better  devel- 
oped man  than  his  compatriots  who  subsist  principally  on 
rabbits  and  such  meaner  fare  ;  and  excess  of  carbonaceous 
food,  and  deficiency  of  perspiration  or  of  combustion  in  the 
lungs,  appear  everywhere  to  darken  the  skin.*     The  Negro 
type  in  its  extreme  form  is  peculiar  to  low  and  humid  river 
valleys  of  tropical  Africa.     In  Australasia  similar  characters 
appear  in  men  of  a  very  different  race  in  similar  circum- 
stances.    The   Mongolian   type   reappears  in  South  Africa. 
The  Esquimau  is  like  the  Fuegian.     The  American  Indian, 
both  of  South  and  North  America,  resembles  the  Mongol ; 
but  in  several  of  the  middle  regions  of  the  American  con- 
tinent men  appear  who  approximate  to  the  IMalay.     Every- 
where and  in  all  races  coarse  features  and  deviations  from 
the   oval   form   of  skull  are  observed  in   rude   populations. 
Where  men  have  sunk  into  a  child-like  simplicity,  the  elon- 
gated forms  prevail.     Where  they  have  become  carnivorous, 
aggressive,  and  actively  barbarous,  the  brachy-kephalic  forms 
abound.     These  and  many  other  considerations  tend  to  the 
conclusion  that  these  varieties  are  inseparably  connected  with 
external  conditions.     It  may  still  be   asked — Were  not  the 
races  created  as  they  are,  with  especial  reference  to  these 

*  A  curious  note,  by  Dr.  John  Rae,  on  the  change  of  complexion  in  the 
Sandwich  Islanders,  consequent  on  the  introduction  of  clothing,  may  be 
found  in  the  "Montreal  Medical  Chronicle,"  1856,  and  the  "Canadian 
Journal  "  for  the  same  year. 


species  and  Varietal  Forms.  433 

conditions  ?  I  answer  no— because  the  differences  are  of  a 
character  in  every  respect  like  those  that  appear  in  other  true 
species  as  the  results  of  influences  from  without. 

Farther,  not  only  have  we  varieties  of  man  resulting  from 
the  slow  operation  of  climatal  and  other  conditions,  but  we 
have  the  sudden  development  of  races.  One  remarkable  in- 
stance may  illustrate  my  meaning.  It  is  the  hairy  family  of 
Siam,  described  by  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Yule.^  The  pe- 
culiarities here  consisted  of  a  fine  silky  coat  of  hair  covering 
the  face  and  less  thickly  the  whole  body,  with  at  the  same 
time  the  entire  absence  of  the  canine  and  molar  teeth.  The 
person  in  whom  these  characters  originated  was  sent  to  Ava 
as  a  curiosity  when  five  years  old.  He  married  at  twenty- 
two,  his  wife  being  an  ordinary  Burmese  woman.  One  of  two 
children  who  survived  infancy  had  all  the  characters  of  the 
father.  This  was  a  girl ;  and  on  her  marriage  the  same  char- 
acters reappeared  in  one  of  two  boys  constituting  her  family 
when  seen  by  Mr.  Yule.  Here  was  a  variety  of  a  most  ex- 
treme character,  originating  without  apparent  cause,  and  ca- 
pable of  propagation  for  three  generations,  even  when  crossed 
with  the  ordinary  type.  Had  it  originated  in  circumstances 
favorable  to  the  preservation  of  its  purity,  it  might  have  pro- 
duced a  tribe  or  nation  of  hairy  men,  with  no  teeth  except  in- 
cisors. Such  a  tribe  would,  with  some  ethnologists,  have  con- 
stituted a  new  and  very  distinct  species ;  and  any  one  who 
had  suggested  the  possibility  of  its  having  originated  within  a 
few  generations  as  a  variety  would  have  been  laughed  at  for 
his  credulity.  It  is  unnecessary  to  cite  any  further  instances. 
I  merely  wish  to  insist  on  the  necessity  of  a  rigid  compari- 
son of  the  variations  which  appear  in  man,  either  suddenly 
or  in  a  slow  or  secular  manner,  with  the  characters  of  the 
so-called  races  or  species. 

7.  If  we  turn  from  the  merely  physical  constitution  of  man, 


*  Latham's  "  Descriptive  Ethnology." 
T 


434  Appendix. 

and  inquire. as  to  his  psychical  and  spiritual  endowments,  it 
would  be  easy  to  show,  as  Dr.  Carpenter  and  others  have 
done,  in  opposition  to  Darwin,  that  on  the  one  hand  an  im- 
passable barrier  separates  man  from  the  lower  animals,  and 
that  on  the  other  there  is  an  essential  unity  among  the  races 
of  men.  But  this  subject  I  have  discussed  fully  in  the  con- 
cluding chapters  of  my  "  Story  of  the  Earth." 

If  man  is  thus  so  very  variable,  and  if  many  of  his  leading 
varieties  have  existed  for  a  very  long  time,  does  not  the  fact 
that  we  have  but  one  species  afford  very  strong  evidence  that 
species  change  only  within  fixed  limits,  and  do  not  pass  over 
into  new  specific  types.  Viewed  in  this  way,  variability  with- 
in the  specific  limits  becomes  in  itself  one  of  the  strongest  ar- 
guments against  the  doctrine  of  descent  with  modification  as 
a  mode  of  origination  of  new  species. 

Let  us  now  add  to  all  this  the  farther  consideration,  so  well 
illustrated  in  the  "  Reliquiae  Aquitanicae  "  of  Christy  and  Lar- 
tet,  that  the  oldest-known  men  of  the  caves  and  gravels  may 
be  placed  in  one  of  the  varieties,  and  this  the  most  widely 
distributed,  of  modern  man,  and  we  have  a  further  argument 
which  tells  most  strongly  against  the  assumption  either  of 
the  extreme  antiquity  or  of  the  unlimited  variability  of  the 
human  species. 


INDEX. 


Abraham,  25,  270. 

Abiahamic  Genesis,  18. 

Abyss,  104. 

"Accommodation,"  theory  of,  61. 

Adaptation  in  nature,  78. 

^ons  of  creation,  132. 

Agassiz  on  prophetic  types,  350. 

on  species,  342. 

Animals,  higher,  creation  of  the,  230. 

lower,  creation  of  the,  211. 

Antediluvians,  253. 

Antiquity  of  man,  263,  386. 

of  man,  geological  evidence 

of  the,  294. 
of  man,  history  in  relation  to 

the,  271. 
of  man,  language  in  relation 

to  the,  285. 

of  the  earth,  154,  331. 

Aretz  (earth),  94,  175, 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  on  creation  by  law, 

373- 

Duke  of,  on  the  origin  of  civ- 
ilization, 391. 

Aryan  race,  16,  267. 

Assyrian  Genesis,  19,  loS. 

Texts,  412. 

Astronomy  of  the  Bible,  207. 

Atmosphere,  constitution  of  the,  157- 

creation  of  the,  160. 

Augustine  on  creative  days,  134. 

Aur  (light),  115. 

Babel,  258,  266. 

Bara  (create),  90. 

Beaumont,  De,  on  continents,  184. 

Bede  on  creative  days,  133. 

Beginning,  the,  87,  95. 

Behemoth,  2^^. 

Bhemah  (herbivores),  231,  406. 


Birds,  creation  of,  216,  219. 
Bronn  on  the  origin  of  species,  339, 
Bronze,  age  of,  279. 
Bunsen's  chronology,  273. 

Cainozoic  period,  331. 
Carnivora,  creation  of,  232. 
Caverns,  human  remains  in,  29S. 
Centres  of  creation,  238, 
Chaos,  100,  107. 

chemistry  of,  112. 

Chinese  language,  2S8. 
Comparisons  and  conclusions,  322. 
"  Conflict  of  the  Bible  with  science," 

44. 
Continents,  their  origin,  182. 
Cosmogony,  Assyrian,  108. 

Egyptian,  106,  198. 

Greek,  109. 

Hebrew,  its  character,  70. 

Hebrew,  its  objects,  35. 

Hebrew,  its  origin,  46. 

Indian,  110,  148. 

Persian,  147. 

r  Phoenician,  107. 

Cranial  characters  of  primitive  men, 

298. 
Creation,  90. 
bylaw,  373. 

centres  of,  238. 

days  of,  115. 

modes  of,  375,  377. 

of  birds,  216,  219. 

of  carnivora,  232. 

of  great  reptiles,  213. 

of  herbivora,  231. 

of  higher  animals,  230. 

of  lower  animals,  2 1 1. 

of  man,  235. 

of  plants,  186. 


43^ 


Index. 


Crol],  calculations  of  erosion,  334. 

glacial  theory  of,  396. 

Dana  on  creation  of  plants,  196. 

on  creative  daj^s,  144. 

on  tertiary  fauna,  234. 

Darwin  on  species,  338. 
Day  of  creation,  first,  115. 

of  creation,  second,  157. 

of  creation,  third,  174. 

of  creation,  fourth,  199. 

of  creation,  fifth,  211. 

of  creation,  sixth,  230. 

of  creation,  seventh,  249. 

Days  of  creation,  115. 
of  creation  compared  with  ge- 
ological periods,  155. 

prophetic,  65. 

Death  before  the  fall,  355. 

"Deep,"  the,  104. 

Deluge,  the,  256. 

Deshe  (herbage),  186. 

Design  in  nature,  78. 

Desolate  void,  100. 

Drysdale  on  theories  of  life,  383. 

Dupont  on  Belgian  caves,  308. 

Earth,  the,  94,  102,  175. 

its  foundations,  177. 

Ecclesiastes,  chap,  i.,  74. 
Eden,  conditions  of,  237,  252. 

site  of,  237-252. 

Edkins    on  the   Chinese   language, 

286,  288. 
Egypt,  early  history  of,  272. 
Egyptian  Cosmogony,  106,  198. 

Texts,  412. 

Elohiffi,  89,  97. 

Evans   on   the    erosion   of  valleys, 

313- 
Evening  of  creative  days,  138. 

Evolution  as  applied  to  animals,  226, 

363. 
Excavation  of  valleys,  315. 

Exodus  xxiv.,  10,  163. 

Fall  of  man,  250. 

Final  causes,  355. 

Firmament,  the,  162. 

Fluidity,  original,  of  the  earth,  no. 

Forbes  on  creation  of  man,  250. 


Foundations  of  the  earth,  177.  . 
Frontal,  cave  of,  308. 

Genesis,  chap,  i.,  translated,  66. 

chap,  i.,  I,  87. 

chap,  i.,  2,  100. 

chap,  i.,  3  to  5,  115. 

chap,  i.,  6  to  8,  157. 

chap,  i.,  10  to  II,  174. 

chap,  i.,  14  to  19,  199. 

chap,  i.,  20  to  23,  211. 

chap,  i.,  24  to  31,  230. 

chap,  ii.,  I  to  3,  299. 

chap,  iv.,  23,  46. 

chap.  X.,  22,  263. 

the  Abrahamic,  18. 

the  Assyrian,  20. 

the  Mosaic,  27. 

the  Quiche,  22. 

Geolog}',  principles  of,  325, 

Glacial  periods,  theories  of,  395. 

God,  personality  of,  11. 

"Grass"  in  Genesis  i.,  186. 

Greek  myths,  109. 

Green  on  the  forms  of  continents,  184. 

ITaeckel  on  the  affiliation  of  races, 
289. 

on  man  and  apes,  389. 

Hamite  races,  268. 

Harmony  of  revelation  and  science, 

342. 
Havilah,  productions  of,  255. 
Hay'th-eretz  (wild  beast),  232. 
Heavens,  the,  92,  165. 
Herbivora,  creation  of,  231. 
Hindoos,  cosmogony  of  the,  149. 
Hitchcock  on  creative  days,  141. 
Horner  on  the  alluvium  of  the  Nile, 

274. 
Hughes  on  the  excavation  of  valleys, 

315- 
on  interglacial  periods,  295. 

on  stalagmite,  388. 

on  the  Victoria  Cave,  387. 

Humboldt  on  Hebrew  poetry,  39. 
Hunt  on  the  chemistry  of  the  prime- 
val earth,  400. 
Hurakon,  107. 
Hut  of  Sodertelge,  386. 


Index. 


All 


Ice-freshets  in  America,  314- 
Incandescence    of   the    earth,    no, 

119. 
India,  cosmogony  of,  149. 

Japhetic  races,  267,  268. 
Jehovah,  96. 
Jobix.,5,  176. 

ix.,  9,  206. 

xxii.,  15,  257. 

xxviii.,  179. 

xxviii.,  26,  73. 

xxxvi.,  166. 

xxxvii.,  14,  161. 

xxxviii.,  166,  177,  206. 

Jones,  Sir  W.,  on  Indian  cosmogo- 
ny, 149. 

Kent's  Cavern,  302. 
Kurtz  on  days  of  vision,  49. 

Lamech,  his  poem,  46. 

Land,  its  creation,  174. 

geological  history  of,  182. 

Languages,  unity  of,  285,  291. 

La  Place,  nebular  hypothesis  of,  1 19. 

Latham  on  African  languages,  288. 

on  the  radiation  of  langua- 
ges, 289. 

Laws  of  nature,  in  the  Bible,  73. 

Lemuria,  289. 

Leviticus  xi.,  212. 

Life,  succession  of,  331,  337. 

theories  of,  383. 

Light,  115,  121. 

Logos,  96. 

Luminaries,  199. 

Lyell  on  the  cause  of  the  glacial  pe- 
riod, 397.  ^    ^ 

on  the  delta  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, 333. 

on  the   pleistocene   period, 

297. 

Mammals,  creation  of,  231. 
Mammoth  age,  299. 
Man,  antiquity  of,  386. 

creation  of,  235. 

neocosmic,  285. 

palseocosmic,  285,  319. 


Man,  unity  of,  263,  414. 

Manetho,  chronology  of,  273. 

Margite,  cave  of,  308. 

Menes,  his  epoch,  273. 

Mesozoic  period,  218,  331. 

Miller  on  creative  days,  135, 

Mining  noticed  in  the  Bible,  179. 

Mississippi,  delta  of  the,  333. 

Mist  watering  the  ground,  189, 

Modern  period  of  geology,  251. 

Modes  of  creation,  377. 

Moffatt  on  African  languages,  292. 

Morse  on  the  evolution  of  man,  391. 

Mosaic  Genesis,  27. 

Miiller's    classification  of  religions, 

14. 
Mythology,  ancient,  its  origin,  408. 

of  the  atmosphere,  171. 

as  related  to  the  Bible,  109, 

261. 

Nature,  study  of,  244. 
Negro  races,  276. 
Neocosmic  man,  285. 
"  Neolithic  "  men,  278. 
Niagara,  excavation  of,  312. 
Nimrod,  259, 
Noah,  sons  of,  266. 

Palaeocosmic  men,  285,  319. 

"  Palaeolithic  "  men,  278. 

Palaeozoic  animals,  217. 

period,  231. 

Parallelism  of  Scripture  and  geolo- 
gy, 343. 

Pattison  on  the  antiquity  of  man,  3 18. 

Pengelly  on  Kent's  Cavern,  302. 

on  stalagmite,  387. 

I'eriods,  creative,  126. 

geological,  330. 

Persians,  cosmogony  of  the,  147. 

Philological  evidence  of  the  antiqui- 
ty of  man,  285. 

Pictet  on  the  origin  of  species,  339. 

Pierce  on  the  forms  of  continents, 
184. 

Pillars  of  the  earth,  177. 

Plants,  creation  of,  186. 

Plastids  and  plastidules,  377. 

Pratt,  Archdeacon,  on  bheviah,  406. 


438 


Index, 


Prayer  and  law,  171. 
Progress  in  nature,  75,  337. 
Proverbs,  viii.,  74,96,  176. 
Psalm  viii,  208. 

viii.,  I,  94. 

xviii.,  178. 

xix.,  208. 

xc,  108. 

civ.,  164,  175,  178,  224. 

cxix.,  90,  74- 

cxix.,  20,  176. 

cxxxix.,  84. 

cxlvii.,  208. 

cxlviii.,  6,  12^. 

Purpose  in  nature,  78. 

Quiche  Genesis,  22,  107. 

Rakiah  (the  expanse),  162. 
Rawlinson  on  historical  dates,  390. 
Reconciliation  of  the  Bible  and  ge-" 

ology,  342. 
Reindeer  age,  299. 
Religion,  Aryan,  16. 

Turanian,  15. 

Semitic,  16. 

Remcs  (creeping  things),  215. 

Rephainiy  257. 

Reptiles,  213,  215. 

Revelation,  idea  of,  12. 

River  valleys,  excavation  of,  314. 

Ruach  Elohim,  106. 

Rutimeyer  on  inter-glacial  men,  386. 

Sabbath,  the,  as  related  to  ages  of 
creation,  130. 

of  the  Creator,  249. 

Schliemann  on  Troy,  282. 
Shamayim  (heavens),  92. 
Shemite  races,  16. 
Sheretz  (swarming  creature),  211. 
Somme,  gravels  of  the,  313. 
Song  of  creation,  66. 


Species,  Agassiz  on,  61. 

Bronn  on,  339. 

distinct  from  varieties,  414. 

in  Genesis  i.,  215. 

— ^ origin  of,  368,  378. 

Spirit  of  God  in  creation,  106. 
Stalagmite,  deposition  of,  310,  385. 
St  ere  0771  a,  162. 
Stone,  ages  of,  281. 

Table  of  Biblical  periods,  352. 

of  geological  periods,  330. 

Tait,  Prof.,  on  the  age  of  the  earth, 

154- 
Tamnii  (great  reptile),  213,  405. 

Tennyson  on  types  in  nature,  222. 
Theories  of  the  origin  of  genesis,  51. 
Thomson,  Sir  Wm.,  on  the  age  of 

the  earth,  154. 
Time,  geological,  321,  332. 
Torel  on  the  Sodertelge  hut,  386. 
Troy,  as  described  by  Schliemann, 

282. 
Type  in  nature,  82,  222. 

Unity  of  man,  263,  414. 

of  nature,  36. 

Universe,  the  unseen,  11. 

Variation,  laws  of,  414. 
Veda,  its  cosmogony,  1 10. 
Vegetation,  its  creation,  186. 

of  Eozoic  period,  192. 

Victoria  Cave,  386. 
Vision  of  creation,  65. 
Void,  the,  100. 

Wallace  on  evolution,  373. 

on  primitive  man,  389. 

Waters  above  the  heavens,  159. 
"  Whales,  great,"  213. 
Wilson  on  American  skulls,  427. 
on  ancient  pottery,  283. 


THE     END. 


B|  PmUCIPAL  DJIWSOU, 

EARTH  AND  MAN.  The  Story  of  the  Earth  and 
Man.  By  J.  W.  Dawson,  LL.D,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S., 
Principal  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  McGill  Univer- 
sity, Montreal.  With  Twenty  Illustrations.  i2mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

An  admirable  book.  It  is  a  clear  and  interesting  resume  of  the  re- 
sults of  geological  investigation,  told  in  simple  language,  devoid  of  techni- 
calities. The  unscientific  reader  will  obtain  more  knowledge  of  freolojrv 
in  one  hour's  reading  of  this  book  than  he  will  in  a  week's  study  of  more 
elaborate  and  professional  books  upon  the  same  subject.  It  is  vigorously 
written,  and  with  a  certain  picturesqueness  that  is  exceedingly  attractive. 
The  chapters  upon  primitive  man  are  peculiarly  interesting. — Saturday 
Evening  Gazette,  Boston. 

The  pleasantly  written  volume  before  us  tells  the  story  of  the  paleon- 
tology and  physical  geography  of  the  earth  in  prehuman  ages,  and  closes 
with  a  discussion  of  the  theories  of  the  appearance,  late  in  geological 
time,  of  man  upon  the  earth.  Dr.  Dawson's  sketch  of  paleontology  will, 
we  feel  sure,  be  found  interesting  by  all  readers. — Athenccum,  London. 

Since  Hugh  Miller's  time  no  scientific  geologist  has  done  more  than 
Principal  Dawson  to  extend  popular  interest  in  this  branch  of  study,  to 
secure  attention  to  its  educational  value,  or  to  remove  misapprehensions 
which  exist  in  some  quarters  as  to  the  relations  of  science  and  Scripture 
on  geological  questions. — Leisure  Hour,  London. 

"We  have  read  his  book  with  profound  interest.  It  is  intelligible, 
candid,  modest. — Boston  Transcript. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD.  The  Origin  of  the 
World,  according  to  Revelation  and  Science.  By 
J.  W.  Dawson,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  &c.  i2mo, 
Cloth. 

PUBLISHED  BY  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  NEW  YORK. 

Harper  &  Brothers  loill  send  either  of  the  above  luorks  by  mail, 
postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of  the 
price. 


By  AlEXAHDER  WINCHEIL 


SKETCHES  OF  CREATION  :  a  Popular  View  of  some 
of  the  Grand  Conclusions  of  the  Sciences  in  Reference 
to  the  History  of  Matter  and  of  Life.  Together  with  a 
Statement  of  the  Intimations  of  Science  respecting  the 
Primordial  Condition  and  the  Ultimate  Destiny  of  the 
Earth  and  the  Solar  System.  By  Alexander  Win- 
CHELL,  LL.D.     With  Illustrations.     i2mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 


GEOLOGICAL  CHART  :  exhibiting  the  Classification 
and  Relative  Positions  of  the  Rocks,  and  the  Various 
Phenomena  of  Stratigraphical  Geology ;  together  with 
an  Indication  of  Geological  Equivalents,  the  most  im- 
portant American  and  Foreign  Synonyms,  the  Econom- 
ical Products  of  the  Rocks,  and  numerous  Typical  Lo- 
calities ;  with  an  Actual  Section  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  near  the  Parallel  of  Thirty-nine 
Degrees.  By  Alexander  Winchell,  LL.D.  Mounted 
on  roller,  $10  00. 

IVif/i  a  Key.     8vo,  Paper,  25  cents. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  EVOLUTION ;  its  Data,  its  Prin- 
ciples, its  Speculations,  and  its  Theistic  Bearings.  By 
Alexander  Winchell,  LL.D.     12 mo.  Cloth,  %i  00. 


RECONCILIATION  OF  SCIENCE  AND  RELIGION. 

By  Alexander  Winchell,  LL.D.     i2mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 


Piihlished  hy  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

2^=^  Harper  &  Brothers  wi/I  send  any  of  the  above  tuorks  by  mail, 
postage  prepaid^  to  any  part  of  the  United  States,  on  receipt  of  the 
price. 


SSSSSx 


North  Carolina  State  University  Libraries 

QH325  .D3  c.2 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORLD  ACCORDING  TO  REVELATION  A 


